Read all submissions and see the ranking here!

Science progresses slowly, but occasionally jumps forward when a new discovery reveals that some common knowledge was based on wrong assumptions. Can fake discoveries also reveal shaky assumptions?

We write a short "breaking news"-like text reporting on an impossible discovery. You make up a plausible scientific explanation.

$100 for the best entry to the first prompt

$100 for the best entry to the second prompt

Special mentions for other excellent entries!

Judges

Choose one prompt. The two options are unrelated, they do not refer to each other and you only need to submit an entry for one option.

Option 1

First Case of Biological Organism Infected by Computer Virus

"An anonymous source confirmed yesterday's embargo-breaking report by Reuters, that the world's first case of non-genetically modified biological organism infected by a computer virus was detected in a lab in an undisclosed location. The discovery is to be publicly released on the preprint server BioArxiv tomorrow at 4pm EST. While the risk of infection for humans is unknown at this time, the infected organism is reportedly not a human being. The published data was deemed plausible by independent experts, who are preparing to publish their own interpretations of the data. We have gained access to one of these reports."

Write the report according to the participation rules at the end of this page.

Option 2

Computer Virus Nicknamed 'Akabake' Believed to Have Biological Origins

"An obscure computer virus once suspected to have been created by hostile governmental agencies has been found to originate from a biological organism. The discovery was published on Arxiv this morning. "This is the first confirmed case of naturally-occurring computer virus, created neither by humans nor by other computers," declared the lead author in an exclusive interview. In a blog post published this afternoon, an independent expert judged the biological route "highly likely."

Write the blog post according to the participation rules at the end of this page.