Build a conspiracy theory from scratch.
The best way to learn to spot a conspiracy theory is to make one yourself.
Pick a real news story. On the next step you'll choose who's behind it and why. Then walk through the four moves real conspiracists use, with a debunk on every step.
- Hunt anomalies — turn coincidence into evidence of a secret plot.
- Fabricate connections — draw lines between unrelated dots until they look meaningful.
- Dismiss counter-evidence — if a fact disagrees, make the fact part of the cover-up.
- Discredit the critics — dismiss people who point out flaws in your theory.
Pick the event.
Choose whichever real-feeling headline your imagination will run wildest with. Don't overthink it.
Populist Support Declines in Europe
An annual YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project survey, reported by The Guardian, finds that support for populist ideas has fallen across several European countries over the past three years. The survey measures attitudes like distrust of elites, favoring strong national control, and opposition to immigration. In the latest cycle, populist sentiment declined in ten European nations, indicating fewer people now express broad populist beliefs than in earlier years.
Many Europeans Want to End Daylight Saving Time
As clocks move forward each spring across the northern hemisphere, debates over daylight saving time continue in several Western European countries. YouGov's Eurotrack survey asked people in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden whether their country should stop switching clocks twice a year. Responses vary widely: 75% of Germans want to end the practice, while Italy is the only country where a majority (56%) prefers to keep changing the clocks. Britain and Spain were narrowly divided on the question.
Revive extinct creatures: big debate?
Scientists and conservationists are debating de-extinction, the idea of bringing extinct species back using modern genetic tools. Advances such as PCR, genome sequencing and gene editing have made it technically plausible to reconstruct genomes from preserved DNA. Companies like Colossal Biosciences aim to use these methods to create proxy woolly mammoths by editing Asiatic elephant DNA. Proponents argue such projects could help restore lost ecological functions and biodiversity.
Humanity Breaks Climate Records
In 2023 many regions experienced unusually severe heat, droughts, floods and storms. The Guardian surveyed 45 climate scientists worldwide who say these extreme events align with long-standing scientific predictions about global warming. However, the impacts are happening faster and more intensely than many models had forecast, in part because the return of El Niño is amplifying heat and weather extremes this year.