Endless Thread

WBUR

Untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL. Hosted by Ben Brock Johnson & Amory Sivertson.

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27 episodes
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Avg 28 min
English

Episodes 27

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Friday · 33 min
Keeping the Lights on at a Video Game Cafe in Southern Yemen
For the last five years, Mo has been fighting for a persistent dream of his –– a video game internet cafe for his neighborhood in southern Yemen. This week on Endless Thread Ben and Amory tell the story of how Mo's dream has stayed alive thanks to his persistence, and the help of internet strangers across the world.
September 11 · 28 min
Ear rumblers assemble!
Ben can make a roaring, rumbling sound with his ears that no one else can hear. He never thought much about it — whether only he could do this, or whether everyone could do this — until he discovered a subreddit called Ear Rumblers Assemble: a whole community devoted to the mysterious and understudied ability to voluntarily tense one of the miniscule muscles in our ears. We go into Ben's ear with Dr. Anand Devaiah, and raise questions about how everyone experiences the world differently and the enduring mysteries of the human body. Show notes: r/earrumblersassemble (Reddit) Thanks to Reddit, a New Diagnosis Is Bubbling Up Across the Nation (KFF Health News) This episode was produced by Grace Tatter and edited by Dave Shaw. It was co-hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus.
September 4 · 24 min
Encore: Owl pursuits
In 2022, 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, or catch them.
August 28 · 25 min
Emily Kwong takes us to science camp
Grab your telescopes because this week on Endless Thread Ben and NPR Short Wave host Emily Kwong take us down two science-related internet wormholes.
August 21 · 28 min
'Turn Bluetooth off, or we're turning around.'
The 190 passengers of a United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey to Palma de Mallorca, Spain had settled into their seats for their overnight flight when the captain gave an announcement: everyone had to turn off their Bluetooth devices — or he was going to turn around the plane.
August 14 · 44 min
Fruit of the Loom: Horn of Lies
For years, countless people have been taking to the internet to share their memory of the Fruit of the Loom logo. A lot of them have the same memory – a basket, rather, a cornucopia of fruit.
August 7 · 29 min
The internet is a perpetual stew
This week on Endless Thread it's a producer takeover with Grace and Kalyani serving up some delicious online stories.
July 31 · 24 min
Teach us how to Dougie
Long before TikTok dances, there was the Dougie. In 2010, Cali Swag District’s “Teach Me How to Dougie” went worldwide, and for the decade-plus since, people have been trying to learn the viral moves. More than 15 years later, a Korean TikTok creator went viral for doing the Dougie… badly. He claimed to be learning how to do the Dougie day-by-day – but his moves were so stiff and awkward, viewers from around the world – including Endless Thread producer Kalyani Saxena — were suspicious. Was @JBStarMax faking being bad at the Dougie? Kalyani presents her investigation to Ben and Amory. Show notes: “Day 1 of learning to do the Dougie until I can do it smoothly” (@JBStarMax on TikTok) Breakdancing (@JBStarMax on TikTok) Know Your L.A. Hip-Hop Dances: The Controversial Origin Story of The Dougie (LA Weekly) Ben does the crabwalk, and Amory does the worm (WBUR) This episode was produced by Grace Tatter and co-hosted by Kalyani Saxena, Ben Brock Johnson, and Amory Sivertson. It was edited by Dave Shaw. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski.
July 24 · 34 min
The Lost Loophole
Kurt Gödel was a genius mathematician and logician, considered by many scholars to be as influential as Aristotle. He was also buddies with fellow geniuses Albert Einstein and Oskar Morgenstern, the co-creator of Game Theory. In 1947, Gödel told Morgenstern and Einstein he had identified an inner contradiction in the U.S. Constitution while studying for his citizenship test: the type of loophole that could plunge the United States into a dictatorship not unlike the Nazi regime Gödel had escaped when he immigrated from Austria. So, what was the loophole? Over the years, everyone from Constitutional law scholars to laypeople on Reddit have wondered. Endless Thread plumbs the depths of Gödel's galaxy brain with the help of philosopher, writer and Gödel expert Rebecca Newberger Goldstein — and learns some surprising lessons about artificial intelligence, a German shorthand called Gabelsberger, and democracy along the way. Show notes: Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel, by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (Amazon) Oskar Morgenstern's account of Kurt Gödel's naturalization (Institute of Advanced Study) This episode was produced by Grace Tatter. It was co-written by Grace Tatter and Ben Brock Johnson, co-hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson, and edited by Meg Cramer and Dave Shaw. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus.
July 17 · 37 min
How to Dim the Sun, from Marketplace's How We Survive
The climate crisis is escalating. We have to decarbonize our economy, but we’re moving too slowly. So, what’s the backup plan?
July 10 · 31 min
Socials for Sale
This week, hosts Amory and Ben take a chilling look at how our social media is used for surveillance with Dell Cameron, an investigative reporter with WIRED covering privacy and national security.
July 3 · 24 min
Encore: Adrián and the Whale
Adrián Simancas was paddling the Straight of Magellan, with his father Dell, when the unimaginable happened: a humpback whale emerged from the water and engulfed him in its open mouth -- and his father captured it all on video. Almost immediately, the video went viral.
June 26 · 25 min
Comfort maxxing on the interwebs
This week on Endless Thread, Ben and Amory are comfy maxing. They'll discuss two ways the internet is delivering comfort - from a look at the delicious foods of your childhood to an intriguing tip on sleeping better at night.
June 19 · 22 min
Back to the Backrooms!
Amory and Ben take a little field trip to the movies to see "Backrooms" and discuss how this internet meme holds up in the hands of Hollywood.
June 11 · 36 min
Endless Thread on OnlyFans
Journalist Leon Neyfakh wanted to know more about the massively popular and sprawling online ecosystem of OnlyFans. What are its nearly 400 million users really getting from it, and what can that tell all of us about relationships forged online? To find out, he teamed up with Gracie Canaan, a stand-up comedian and OnlyFans creator.
June 4 · 25 min
Leave a message after the beep
Jeremy Rellosa used to watch TV shows and movies from the '90s and revel in how the characters walked around untethered to a smartphone, with no expectations of constant connectivity. So he decided to run an experiment on himself: he'd live for at least two weeks without a smartphone.
May 29 · 25 min
The Church of Speedrun!
Ben and Amory zoom through two internet stories connected to speedrunning, including a look at a mysterious object on Reddit and an online trend directed at the Church of Scientology.
May 22 · 23 min
Endless Egg
Some Internet trends are temporary, but eggs are forever. Today, host Ben Brock Johnson serves up a story about a recipe that, according to the people of r/pickled, can't be beat, and producer Kalyani Saxena egg-splores online discourse around Korean mayak eggs, and why it matters which creators get credit for their popularity.
May 15 · 27 min
Manifesting an online rom-com existence
Hosts Ben and Amory pay homage to the magic of online chance encounters with producer Grace Tatter. Together, they explore the ways in which the internet fuels random yet delightful meetings between strangers online, from a website where you can impersonate ChatGPT to Craigslist's beloved Missed Connections page.
May 8 · 25 min
Ben Palmer's Brain
Ben Palmer set up a fake tip line for people to report immigrants in the United States, and recorded the conversations. Things got uncomfortable and, to some, surprisingly funny. How did Ben Palmer go from being your average stand-up comic, trying out sets after his day job, to creating viral social commentary?

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