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Endless Thread

Hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson dig into the internet's vast and curious ecosystem of online communities to find untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL.

LATEST EPISODE

An infant giraffe at a zoo in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

The downside of giraffes' long necks

From the days of Charles Darwin, scientists have remarked upon the evolutionary benefits of giraffes' long necks. But after two mysterious deaths, Endless Thread turned to the subreddit AskScience to...

Endless Thread

19:51Mar 24, 2023

An illustration shows a yellow silhouette of a person freefalling against a grunge black and yellow background. (Diego Mallo for The Marshall Project)

'Violation,' Part 1: Two sons, lost

This debut episode of Violation, a podcast from WBUR and The Marshall Project, introduces the story of the crime that has bound two families together for decades.

Endless Thread

34:49Mar 23, 2023

Evan Kail, the owner of SLP Gold and Silver, became the center of an international media frenzy last fall. After he was sent a book of photos from WWII, Evan claimed on TikTok that the photographs were original images taken at the site of the Nanjing Massacre. The TikTok instantly went viral, even capturing the attention of the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. Here is Evan with Endless Thread co-host, Amory Sivertson, who interviewed Evan at his shop last September. (Courtesy Evan Kail)

Pawn Man: How a WWII photo album created a 'perfect storm' on social media

Evan Kail is a wise-cracking antique dealer and TikToker. Last September, his world turned upside down when one of his TikToks ignited an international media frenzy.

Endless Thread

39:56Mar 17, 2023

Endless Thread introduces Violation, a new podcast about who pulls the levers of power in the justice system

Violation tells the story of two families bound together by an unthinkable crime. It explores America's opaque parole system and asks: How much time in prison is enough? Who gets...

Endless Thread

03:36Mar 16, 2023

A young owl started visiting students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last fall. (Courtesy of Barb.)

Owl pursuits: How an owl became part of a campus community

Last fall, freshmen at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill got a new neighbor: an owl. What wasn't clear was whether the owl was trying to befriend them,...

Environment

24:01Mar 10, 2023

People march through downtown Amarillo to protest a lawsuit in federal court to ban the abortion drug mifepristone Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, in Amarillo, Texas. (Justin Rex/AP)

Return of the Aunties: What online volunteers have learned about abortion access post-Roe

More and more, people are relying on Reddit for help accessing abortion services. Endless Thread revisits r/auntienetwork and looks at how it and other online communities are trying to fill...

Endless Thread

32:06Mar 3, 2023

A capture from social media showing a new born baby rescued from under rubble 128 hours after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit multiple provinces of Turkey including Kahramanmaras on Feb. 12, 2023. (Social Media / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Aftershocks online: How social media responds in the wake of a natural disaster

From a Twitter user predicting a catastrophic earthquake just days before a 7.8-magnitude quake hit Turkey, to mysterious lights in the sky that can help geologists better forecast earthquakes, Ben...

Endless Thread

23:17Feb 24, 2023

Russian YouTubers Natasha and Zack attending an anti-war rally with a friend in Tbilisi, Georgia. They are holding Russian white-blue-white flags which symbolize resistance to the country's war in Ukraine. The flag's design replaces the red stripe on Russia's national flag with a white one. The colors represent peace, truth, and justice; they are also a nod to the Novgorod Republic, a proto-democratic state that existed during Russia's medieval period. (Courtesy Natasha Kurnaeva)

Russian anti-war YouTubers: What happens when your government doesn't allow dissent?

Natasha and Zack initially gained traction on YouTube for their videos about Russian food, culture, and daily life. Their slice-of-life vlogs were a huge hit, getting millions of views with...

Endless Thread

28:59Feb 17, 2023

Stock photo of Canada from Getty Images

My Canadian Girlfriend

We all have a friend who claimed they were in a long distance relationship with someone really awesome...but darn it, you could never their SO because they lived in Canada....

Endless Thread

26:24Feb 10, 2023

Replika chatbots are designed to be your friends — or more. (Replika)

Him: An AI love story

What happens when you date a chatbot? The app Replika lets users design artificially intelligent bots to be their romantic partners. But the real love story may be more about...

Endless Thread

26:58Feb 3, 2023

Hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson dig into the internet's vast and curious ecosystem of online communities to find untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL.

Got a story for us?

Get in touch!

Email: endlessthread@wbur.org

Twitter: @Endless_Thread

On Reddit: u/endless_thread

A jumping worm found at a community garden in Bangor, Maine. (Nora Saks)

Worm Wars: Invasive species and the stories we tell about them

A new creepy crawly is wriggling into The Pine Tree State, and fast. In this episode, co-hosts Ben Johnson and Nora Saks tunnel down a wormhole into the complicated world...

Endless Thread

34:15Jan 27, 2023

In this May 17, 2016, photo, actor Mr. T poses for photographers. (Mary Altaffer/AP)

'Sinbad Smith' and the troll pole: Two tales of things that are not as they seem

In this episode, Amory shares a 10-year-old Reddit post with Ben showing a photo of a college student with an epic-looking wooden staff and a caption that baffled the photo's...

Endless Thread

25:21Jan 20, 2023

Internet activist Aaron Swartz (Courtesy of Brian Knappenberger)

'You are powerful': Missing and remembering Aaron Swartz

In this episode of Endless Thread, co-hosts Amory Sivertson and Ben Brock Johnson honor the legacy of internet activist Aaron Swartz with two people familiar with his life and work:...

Endless Thread

30:41Jan 13, 2023

Mendl Weinstock (middle) and the llama he brought to his sister's (left) wedding (courtesy Mendl Weinstock)

Encore: Llama at a wedding

“What are the dimensions of an adult llama?” asked a Redditor called Mrs. Sam Handwich in the "No Stupid Questions" community. "I've been hired to make a tuxedo for a...

Endless Thread

18:31Jan 6, 2023

Thanks to Redditor u/lexiamf22 for this week's featured art, "Love Letter." You can find more of her work on Instagram @alexisfrazzz. (Courtesy u/lexiamf22)

Encore: Unsent Letters

The unsent letter. We all have one, half-composed in our heads or fully-formed as an email draft. Whatever form these letters take, they go unsent because they might be better...

Endless Thread

28:59Dec 30, 2022

Children's author R.L. Stine on the set of the 'Goosebumps' television show, inspired by his wildly popular children's books. 'Goosebumps' celebrates its 30 year anniversary this year. (Courtesy R.L. Stine)

R.L. Stine, the giver of 'Goosebumps,' on 30 years, countless nightmares, and a lot of luck

Our most recent episode on 'Goosebumps The Musical' featured R.L. Stine, author of the wildly popular 'Goosebumps' book series, which turned 30 this year. In this bonus, we share more...

Endless Thread

15:10Dec 24, 2022

(Courtesy Danny Abosch)

Listener beware… it’s ‘Goosebumps The Musical’

“Goosebumps” book fans and musical theater fans, unite! In this episode, Amory and producer Quincy introduce you to “Goosebumps The Musical” and find out what it might take to get...

Endless Thread

38:29Dec 23, 2022

Endless Thread visited Google's AI offices, where researchers are using an advanced language model to help this robot understand humans. (Courtesy of Google and Everyday Robots)

Good Bot, Bad Bot | Part VI: The quest to build machines like us

Can a machine think like a human? Can it be conscious? For decades the answer was clear: nope. But artificial intelligence today is challenging that notion. Endless Thread visits Google...

Endless Thread

40:27Dec 16, 2022

(Courtesy KEYS AI)

Good Bot, Bad Bot | Part V: Bots that speak the language of love better than you do

If you've ever used a dating app, chances are you've encountered a bot, most likely a fake account or a scammer. But this week on Endless Thread, we investigate a...

Endless Thread

36:06Dec 9, 2022

XiaoIce, a cutting-edge artificial intelligence system designed to create emotional bonds with its 660 million users worldwide, at the company's office in Beijing. XiaoIce was an inspiration for Microsoft's Tay, an AI chatbot modeled to be a typical teenage girl. (Courtesy AFP and Getty Images)

Good Bot, Bad Bot | Part IV: The toxicity of Tay

Next up in our bots series, we bring you the tale of Tay, a Microsoft AI chatbot that has lived on in infamy. Tay was originially modeled to be the...

Endless Thread

28:14Dec 2, 2022