2022 Winners Announced!
Read all submissions and see the ranking here!
Concept
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.
Prizes
$100 for the best entry to the first prompt
$100 for the best entry to the second prompt
Special mentions for other excellent entries!
Prompts
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.
Rules (simplified)
Your entry must happen in this universe, in the year 2022. There is no science-fiction technology and no aliens. Your story must be plausible and not outright contradict existing papers or known data without explanation. You can refer to existing papers to support your claims, and include a bibliography if you wish.
By participating to this contest, you are licensing your work under cc by. This license allows re-user to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. All entries will be made publicly available after the winners are announced.
Details here.