Scientific Record Benchmark

{
  "challenge_id": "AIBRC-008",
  "title": "Scientific Record Benchmark",
  "project_type": "independent_demonstration",
  "research_domain": "Science and Publication Records",
  "difficulty": "advanced",
  "question": "A paper barely a page long, printed on pages 737-738 of volume 171 of a weekly British science journal in the spring of 1953, proposed a two-chain helix whose chains run in opposite directions; its two authors shared a Nobel Prize nine years later. On what date was that issue published?",
  "accepted_answers": [
    "25 April 1953"
  ],
  "answer_type": "short_text",
  "answer_normalisation": {
    "case_sensitive": false,
    "ignore_punctuation": true,
    "accepted_variations": [
      "25 April 1953",
      "April 25, 1953",
      "25/04/1953",
      "1953-04-25"
    ]
  },
  "clues": [
    {
      "clue_id": "C01",
      "fact_type": "document",
      "statement": "The paper is barely one page long and appeared in a weekly British science journal, on pages 737-738 of volume 171.",
      "constraint": "Fixes the journal, volume and pagination without naming the paper or its date.",
      "source": "Nature — article record for 171:737",
      "locator": "Citation block (volume, pages)",
      "status": "verified"
    },
    {
      "clue_id": "C02",
      "fact_type": "person",
      "statement": "Its two authors shared a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine nine years later with a third scientist based at a different institution.",
      "constraint": "Fixes the authors and the 1962 prize, which is a decoy date rather than the answer.",
      "source": "The Nobel Prize — Physiology or Medicine 1962",
      "locator": "Summary page, laureates and citation",
      "status": "verified"
    },
    {
      "clue_id": "C03",
      "fact_type": "subject",
      "statement": "The structure proposed is a two-chain helix with the chains running in opposite directions around a common axis.",
      "constraint": "Identifies the content without using the phrase used in every popular retelling.",
      "source": "Nature — article record for 171:737",
      "locator": "Article title and abstract text",
      "status": "verified"
    },
    {
      "clue_id": "C04",
      "fact_type": "publication context",
      "statement": "Two supporting experimental papers by other groups appear in the same issue, one of them beginning on page 740.",
      "constraint": "Confirms the issue rather than only the article, so the date asked for is the issue date.",
      "source": "Science History Institute — biography page citations",
      "locator": "Citation list: Nature 171 (1953): 737, 738, 740",
      "status": "verified"
    },
    {
      "clue_id": "C05",
      "fact_type": "year",
      "statement": "The issue appeared in the spring of 1953.",
      "constraint": "Narrows the search window without giving the month.",
      "source": "Nature — article record for 171:737",
      "locator": "Publication line",
      "status": "verified"
    }
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "evidence_id": "E01",
      "claim_supported": "The answer, and clues C01, C03 and C05.",
      "source_title": "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid",
      "issuing_organisation": "Nature (Springer Nature)",
      "source_type": "Peer-reviewed journal record",
      "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/171737a0",
      "publication_date": "25 April 1953",
      "page_number": "737-738",
      "section": "Article record header: volume, pages and publication date",
      "access_date": "4 September 2026",
      "reliability": "High - the publisher of record",
      "verification_status": "verified"
    },
    {
      "evidence_id": "E02",
      "claim_supported": "Clue C02 and the neutralisation of the 1962 decoy.",
      "source_title": "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962",
      "issuing_organisation": "The Nobel Foundation",
      "source_type": "Awarding institution",
      "url": "https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1962/summary/",
      "publication_date": "Continuously maintained page",
      "page_number": "n/a (web page)",
      "section": "Prize summary and citation",
      "access_date": "4 September 2026",
      "reliability": "High - the awarding body",
      "verification_status": "verified"
    },
    {
      "evidence_id": "E03",
      "claim_supported": "Clue C04 - independent confirmation of the issue contents.",
      "source_title": "Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins",
      "issuing_organisation": "Science History Institute",
      "source_type": "Museum and research institute",
      "url": "https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/scientific-biographies/james-watson-francis-crick-maurice-wilkins-and-rosalind-franklin/",
      "publication_date": "Continuously maintained page",
      "page_number": "n/a (web page)",
      "section": "Citations to Nature volume 171",
      "access_date": "4 September 2026",
      "reliability": "Medium-high - a specialist institution, used only for corroboration",
      "verification_status": "verified"
    }
  ],
  "search_validation": [
    {
      "search_id": "S01",
      "query": "when was the double helix discovered",
      "platform": "Google",
      "search_date": "4 September 2026",
      "relevant_results": "Returns the year 1953 and a mixture of February and April anecdotes; no issue date.",
      "answer_exposed": false,
      "notes": "The obvious query gives a year and a workshop story, not a publication date. Kept; it shows the question cannot be answered from the popular framing."
    },
    {
      "search_id": "S02",
      "query": "Watson Crick Nature 1953 publication date",
      "platform": "Google",
      "search_date": "4 September 2026",
      "relevant_results": "Exposes 25 April 1953 in the first results.",
      "answer_exposed": true,
      "notes": "Naming the authors and the journal resolves the task in one step. The question was rewritten to avoid the author names, the journal name and the words 'double helix', describing the pagination and the prize instead."
    },
    {
      "search_id": "S03",
      "query": "Nature volume 171 pages 737 738 issue date",
      "platform": "Google",
      "search_date": "4 September 2026",
      "relevant_results": "Reaches the publisher's article record used as E01.",
      "answer_exposed": true,
      "notes": "The pagination is given as a clue, so this path is intended rather than accidental. Retained: the clue is deliberately a locator, and the solver still has to confirm it is the issue date and not a later online posting."
    },
    {
      "search_id": "S04",
      "query": "Nobel Prize Physiology Medicine 1962 nucleic acids laureates",
      "platform": "Google",
      "search_date": "4 September 2026",
      "relevant_results": "Returns the awarding body's summary page used as E02.",
      "answer_exposed": false,
      "notes": "None - it confirms a clue and isolates the decoy year. Retained as part of the reference path."
    }
  ],
  "quality_checks": {
    "The answer is short and objectively verifiable.": true,
    "The answer is supported by an authoritative source.": true,
    "The question has only one defensible answer.": true,
    "No single clue directly exposes the answer.": true,
    "Each clue is independently checkable.": true,
    "The clue set spans multiple fact types.": true,
    "The task requires multi-step reasoning.": true,
    "Obvious searches have been documented.": true,
    "Search-result snippets do not reveal the answer.": false,
    "Sources are publicly accessible.": true,
    "Exact pages, tables or sections are recorded.": true,
    "The evidence chain can be reproduced.": true,
    "The question avoids subjective interpretation.": true,
    "The answer is stable over time.": true,
    "No fabricated evidence is included.": true
  },
  "researcher": {
    "name": "TMK Research Lab",
    "portfolio": "https://theophilusmorkporkpor.lovable.app",
    "email": "tkudjordjie@gmail.com"
  }
}