retractions - 2026 ACF Regionals

Question

The anesthesiologist Joachim Boldt holds the record for the most number of these events, at 222. For 10 points each:

[10h] Name these events, which are tracked by a database and blog run by Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky dedicated to “watching” them.

ANSWER: retractions [accept answers containing word forms of retraction like “getting a paper retracted”; accept RetractionWatch; prompt on scientific fraud or misconduct or answers referring to falsifying or faking data by asking “which prompted what sort of event?”]

[10m] A 2010 paper that found that the bacteria GFAJ-1 (“G-F-A-J-one”) could incorporate this element was controversially retracted in 2025. The tetroxide of this element is a phosphate analogue that inhibits ATP production in glycolysis.

ANSWER: arsenic [or As; accept arsenate]

[10e] Much of the initial response to the GFAJ-1 paper occurred not in journals, but on this social media website under the hashtag “arseniclife.”

ANSWER: Twitter [accept X]

Back to bonuses

Summary


Great Lakes	Main Site	Y	5	12.00	100%	20%	0%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	7	12.86	100%	29%	0%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	1	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Midwest	Main Site	Y	9	10.00	89%	11%	0%
Northeast	Main Site	Y	5	12.00	100%	20%	0%
Southeast	Main Site	Y	6	13.33	100%	17%	17%
UK	Main Site	Y	12	10.00	92%	8%	0%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	6	13.33	83%	17%	33%

Data


Michigan State	CWRU B	0	0	10	10
Ohio State C	Michigan A	0	0	10	10
Ohio State A	Michigan B	0	10	10	20
Ohio State B	Michigan C	0	0	10	10
CWRU A	Pittsburgh	0	0	10	10
Liberty C	James Madison B	0	0	10	10
VCU	Liberty A	0	0	10	10
Liberty B	James Madison A	0	0	10	10
South Carolina A	North Carolina C	0	10	10	20
Wake Forest	South Carolina B	0	0	10	10
Virginia Tech A	Virginia Tech B	0	0	10	10
Virginia	William and Mary	0	10	10	20
North Carolina B	NC State A	0	0	10	10
Chicago A	Illinois A	0	0	10	10
Purdue B	Chicago B	0	0	10	10
Chicago D	Northwestern B	0	0	10	10
Indiana C	Chicago E	0	0	0	0
Indiana A	Illinois B	0	10	10	20
Notre Dame A	Illinois C	0	0	10	10
Notre Dame B	Indiana B	0	0	10	10
Northwestern C	Northwestern D	0	0	10	10
Purdue A	Chicago C	0	0	10	10
Southern Connecticut State	Bowdoin A	0	0	10	10
Dartmouth A	Brown	0	0	10	10
Dartmouth B	Bowdoin B	0	0	10	10
MIT	Harvard B	0	10	10	20
Yale	Brandeis B	0	0	10	10
Kentucky	Sewanee	0	0	10	10
Alabama A	Louisville A	0	0	10	10
Bruin	Mississipi State	0	0	10	10
Louisville B	Tennessee A	0	0	10	10
WashU A	Alabama B	10	10	10	30
Tennessee B	WashU B	0	0	10	10
UCL	Birmingham	0	0	10	10
Bristol	Manchester	0	0	10	10
NYU C	Catholic	0	0	0	0
John Jay	Vassar	0	0	10	10
Johns Hopkins B	Maryland B	0	0	10	10
Johns Hopkins A	NYU A	10	10	10	30
NYU B	Maryland A	10	0	10	20
Rutgers A	Georgetown	0	0	10	10
Oxford A	Edinburgh A	0	0	10	10
Imperial B	Edinburgh B	0	0	10	10
LSE	Southampton A	0	0	0	0
Durham	Montpellier	0	0	10	10
Warwick B	Oxford B	0	0	10	10
Imperial C	Southampton B	0	0	10	10
Warwick A	Imperial A	0	0	10	10
Cambridge B	Cambridge A	0	10	10	20
Cambridge C	Cardiff	0	0	10	10
City St. George's	Oxford C	0	0	10	10