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.
China Urges UK Return Artifacts
China’s state-run Global Times published an editorial urging the British Museum to return Chinese artifacts just ahead of a visit by UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly. The piece accused the museum of holding items acquired through improper channels and called some pieces “stolen.” The British Museum’s collection includes more than 23,000 Chinese objects, and the editorial named examples such as the painting The Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies and Liao tri-coloured luohan statues.
Pandemic led to varied changes
Research compiled by YouGov shows that the COVID-19 pandemic prompted different changes in daily routines around the world. In some places people slept more—Saudi Arabia, Brazil, China and Turkey reported increases—while Australians and Britons admitted to drinking more and residents of Mexico, Brazil and Spain reported cutting back on alcohol. Exercise rose in countries including China, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the United States, and various nations reported shifts in diet quality.
Plants emit audible sounds when injured
Researchers led by Itzhak Khait at Tel Aviv University have found that some plants produce audible, high-frequency sounds when they are stressed or damaged. The team tested tomato and tobacco plants and recorded ultrasonic clicks that arise during drought stress or after cutting. Sensitive microphones and acoustic analysis allowed detection of these sounds from as far as five meters, suggesting plants may broadcast information about their physical condition.
Apple Teaching Siri Lip Reading
Apple has filed a patent application that describes using motion sensing to detect lip and head movements so Siri could recognize commands without relying only on a microphone. The filing, titled "Keyword Detection Using Motion Sensing," explains how analyzing mouth shapes and subtle head motions might identify common phrases, which could help the assistant work better in noisy environments or avoid false activations from background speech.