System Breakdowns

When everything falls apart at once. We explore catastrophic failures in human systems, organisations, and social structures, investigating how complex networks collapse, why safety mechanisms fail, and what triggers cascade failures across interconnected systems.

An empty hospital bed tilted at an angle, lit in a dim clinical room, symbolising simulated microgravity experiments.

The Space Dentist Papers – Did the Six-Week Experiment Ever Happen?

A 2011 paper claimed to study ten men in simulated microgravity for six weeks, but its data was identical to an earlier, shorter study. This investigation follows the evidence trail through phantom laboratories, false affiliations, and a scientific record left uncorrected.

The grey, concrete facade of an anonymous modern hotel, showing a repeating grid of dark windows under an overcast sky.

The Occupancy Paradox – An Audit of UK Asylum Hotel ‘Exits’ vs Invoices

Ministers announced thousands moved out of hotels in early 2025. The record for 1 January to 30 June shows hotel headcount barely shifted while bills stayed high under capacity deals. We test the figures against contracts, invoices and dates.

A map illustrating the systems failure in the Yuba County Five case, with red circles over Yuba, Butte, and Plumas counties to show the fragmented jurisdiction.

When the System Breaks – The Yuba County Five Investigation

In 1978, five men vanished in rural California. A stalled search, split jurisdictions, and a missed tip meant one may have lived for weeks. This is how the system failed to hold the case together.

An old gold Waltham watch on a weathered wooden table

The Orphan Object – The Gold Waltham Watch of the Yuba County Five

On 4 June 1978, a gold Waltham watch was found beside Ted Weiher. Families said it was not theirs. No serial, no forensics, no chain of custody. Our inquiry shows how omissions turned a possible lead into an inert symbol.

A desolate, sepia-toned photograph of an abandoned Maasai manyatta (homestead). The empty mud-and-thatch huts stand in a circle on the vast, empty plains of the Serengeti, implying a recent and sudden departure.

The Serengeti Investigation – The Truth About Africa’s Most Famous Wilderness

Declassified British colonial files reveal the Serengeti's "pristine wilderness" was manufactured through systematic dispossession. The world's most famous park began as an elite hunting estate, built on 64 years of legal warfare against indigenous peoples.

A UK government building sign rubber stamped refused

Which Law is the Ministry Breaking? The MoD’s Impossible Position on Animal Deaths

In 2023, the Ministry of Defence detailed every military animal death. For 2024, after a public incident, they refused, claiming it was too expensive. But UK law requires them to keep accessible records. The MoD is either being dishonest about the cost or breaking the law.

A torn and frayed piece of the European Union flag snagged on the wire mesh of a dark, empty industrial cage.

How the EU’s Animal Welfare Laws Became Optional

The EU's landmark animal welfare laws look impressive, but the reality is a systemic failure. This investigation reveals how a slow, toothless enforcement process allows member states to find it cheaper to break the law than to follow it.

This image captures the bleak Glastenbury Mountains

The Bennington Triangle – When Missing Records Create Missing People

The legend of the Bennington Triangle was not born from paranormal events, but from something far more mundane - institutional failure. Our investigation reveals how five unsolved disappearances were shaped by botched investigations, missing records, and a myth created 40 years later.

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