x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Endless Thread

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

technology

All Episodes

00:37:08

Episodes We Love: How to Fight a Shark

Endless Thread ·

2025/07/04

This episode originally aired on July 12, 2024. It has been updated to more clearly represent communication with Kayleigh Grant about a conversation with Kristian Parton.When Endless Thread producer Grace Tatter heard a friend assert that she could ward off a shark because of TikTok, Grace was both concerned for her friend's safety, and curious. Why are there so many videos about "redirecting" sharks on TikTok, and how accurate are they? Hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson dive into the

en-us

00:28:02

Raiding the fridge with Condiment Claire

Endless Thread ·

2025/06/27

This week on Endless Thread, we're raiding our refrigerators and rating our favorite condiments with TikTok creator and author "Condiment Claire" Dinhut. We learn about the surprising history of some of our favorite flavor-enhancers, and Claire shares her secrets for using up the last bits of sauce in a jar and how she keeps her online presence appetizing.Show notes: The Condiment Book (Flatiron Books) Credits: This episode was written and produced by Grace Tatter. Mix and sound design by Paul

en-us

00:30:11

War and Pizza

Endless Thread ·

2025/06/26

In the hours leading up to Israel commencing its June missile strikes on Iran, X users were posting about pizza. Specifically, how pizza places around the United States Pentagon were experiencing an unusual spike in business. The Pentagon Pizza Index refers to a theory that dates back to the Cold War, suggesting that increased pizza orders around the Pentagon could be a harbinger of imminent military action by the U.S. or its close allies. In this special episode of Endless Thread, Ben and Amory

en-us

00:24:07

Pics or this episode didn't happen

Endless Thread ·

2025/06/20

A picture's worth a thousand words, or in this case, a podcast episode.This week Ben and Amory bring two very different stories from Reddit about pictures on the internet. First – what legal rights do we have over our photos after posting them on Instagram? Then, Ben indoctrinates Amory to The Game. Show notes: Unauthorized use of my photo being displayed in every corporate store in US. Where to start? (Reddit) Let's confuse the younger generation (Reddit) This content was originally

en-us

00:34:11

When the government wants your socials

Endless Thread ·

2025/06/13

Jeffrey Ngo is from Hong Kong. He used to talk about politics all of the time with his friends in group chats and on social media, from casually sending memes, to planning protests.What happens to online speech when you're unsure how much the government is monitoring your speech, and what the repurcussions will be if they don't like it? Show notes: PROFILE: For Jeffrey Ngo, The Fight For Hong Kong is Far From Over (The Hoya) Social Media and the Hong Kong Protests (The New Yorker) Hong

en-us

00:35:24

Derek 'The Menswear Guy' Guy

Endless Thread ·

2025/06/06

Men's fashion might seem like a niche topic. But people of all genders and sartorial sensibilities follow Derek Guy on X for his clothing takes... even if they're not quite sure how they found his page.Endless Thread talks to Derek about how he weaves together humor, history, cultural criticism, and political commentary to make fashion feel relevant to people who have never seriously considered it before. Show notes @dieworkwear (X) Die, Workwear! Credits: This episode was produced by Ben

en-us

00:19:14

Get inked! Or... not!

Endless Thread ·

2025/05/30

'Tis the season to show some skin! Perhaps some tattoo-adorned skin?In this week's episode, Ben tells Amory about the r/tattoos community's reaction to a man whose friends made him self-conscious about his flowery tattoo. Amory tells Ben about the science behind why tattoos stay put on our bodies, which has only recently come to be understood.

en-us

00:26:42

Group Chats: The Dark Matter of American Politics

Endless Thread ·

2025/05/23

The thing about social media when it was created was that it was public. Ideas shared were debated for all to see. Today much of that is happening behind closed doors—in group chats.Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of the media outlet Semafor and co-host of the podcast Mixed Signals, speaks with Endless Thread about the elite group chats on Signal and WhatsApp that are shaping American politics. ***** Credits: This episode was produced by Dean Russell. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski. The

en-us

00:25:39

The bots are taking over

Endless Thread ·

2025/05/16

The bots are here to stay, and they're everywhere. The trouble is, learning how to spot them.On this week's episode of Endless Thread, Ben and Amory discuss two stories from Reddit about undercover bots. First — is there such a thing as an easy tell for identifying bots? Second, what happens when internet users accept bots as fellow humans, only to discover the truth later? Show Notes: ‘The Worst Internet-Research Ethics Violation I Have Ever Seen’ (The Atlantic) OpenAI used this subreddit to

en-us

00:28:49

Encore: The internet's fight over dinosaur emoji

Endless Thread ·

2025/05/09

A few years ago, we brought you the story of how dinosaur emoji had entered the debate about trans rights.We were reminded of this episode recently when a White House memorandum lambasted NPR for spreading "radical, woke propaganda" and linked to our story as an example. After the memo, President Trump signed an executive order to stop federal funding to NPR and PBS. We stand by our reporting. And so we decided to bring you the episode again. ***** We love making Endless Thread, and we want to

en-us

00:21:50

Boy do we have a rant for you

Endless Thread ·

2025/05/02

It's rant season. Or is it? When is it *not* rant season? In this week's episode of Endless Thread, Ben and Amory discuss two very different, very viral, rants from Reddit. One is about how the current design trends in our public and private spaces are hard on the ears. Another discusses how escape room adventures can bring out the worst in people. Perhaps there's some humor and some lessons to glean from rants, too?

en-us

00:35:03

Find Our Friends

Endless Thread ·

2025/04/25

At any given time, 110 people can tell you exactly where James Tatter is.Every single iPhone user has the Find My app on their phone, which allows them to share their location with friends and family. Increasingly, for young people like James, it's becoming also a form of social media. Endless Thread producer (and James's sister) Grace Tatter wanted to know how something that seems creepy to some people became so commonplace to others — and how it's affecting our relationships off the

en-us

00:17:28

Introducing NHPR's "The Final Days of Sgt. Tibbs"

Endless Thread ·

2025/04/18

Endless Thread is thrilled to introduce you to a new podcast from our friends at NHPR’s Document team. That’s the team behind other great narrative shows like Bear Brook and The 13th Step.For the past six months, NHPR reporter Todd Bookman has been spending a lot of time thinking about… a cat. This cat’s name is Sergeant Tibbs – he’s 19. Tibbs goes missing… and lands in the center of a lot of human pain, confusion… and internet outrage. And as Todd investigated what happened here, he found a

en-us

00:24:45

Nothing Violent

Endless Thread ·

2025/04/11

There's a conspiracy theory on Reddit right now suggesting that Reddit is using aggressive tools to hide posts praising or supporting Luigi Mangione's alleged execution-style killing of the CEO of United Healthcare, Brian Thompson. Endless Thread looks at what is going on with Luigi memes on this platform: the Nintendo character memes… and the other ones.Show notes: A Reddit moderation tool is flagging ‘Luigi’ as potentially violent content (The Verge) Reddit will warn users who repeatedly

en-us

00:30:32

Introducing Levittown, new podcast from Kaleidescope...

Endless Thread ·

2025/04/08

Have you ever been deepfaked? Or maybe this is just a new fear – that photos of you end up online that are you – but not really you? What would you do? For an increasing number of people – especially women – this is becoming a reality.So much so that a recent bill in Congress called the “Take It Down” Act has found some incredibly rare bipartisan support. The bill is sponsored by republican Senator Ted Cruz and democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar – making it illegal to post explicit deepfakes – First

en-us

00:31:59

Toyota Hilux trucks - why are they popular online and...

Endless Thread ·

2025/04/04

In April of 2024, a group of aid workers were killed by Israeli Defense Forces while bringing food to Central Gaza. The IDF had alleged that its military analysts had identified a gunman on top of one of the trucks carrying supplies, suggesting it was a military vehicle, not an aid vehicle.In the online debate following the event, a familiar trope popped up: arguing over whether one of the aid trucks a Toyota Hilux. The reason? In military conflict around the globe, the Hilux is a familiar

en-us

00:25:26

How to responsibly leak information to the press

Endless Thread ·

2025/03/28

Well, the messaging app Signal has been in the news recently, thanks to a snafu in which prominent federal defense officials mistakenly added The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a group chat in which they discussed military strikes in Yemen.This whole situation reminds us of another conversation we've been having as a team about how to responsibly leak information to the press, and if there is such a thing as a "secure line." To answer this question, we reached out to our WBUR

en-us

00:23:36

Adrián and the Whale

Endless Thread ·

2025/03/21

There are moments that define each of our lives. Some we can predict: graduations, marriages, births, death. Others? Not so much.And in the year 2025, sometimes, if the stars align just so, you may find that moment explode online. That's what happened to 23-year-old Adrián Simancas. Last month, he 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

en-us

00:53:55

Bonus: A conversation with Hasan Piker

Endless Thread ·

2025/03/19

Last week, we introduced you to the wildly popular, albeit controversial, streamer and self-declared socialist Hasan Piker — what he’s all about, how he’s delivering his message to millions of followers, and who he’s reaching and resonating with.When we talked to him in November, Hasan had a lot to say about the Democratic Party, about the streaming platform Twitch, and about what’s further dividing Americans right now. So here's more of our conversation with him.

en-us

00:36:12

The Stream is Up

Endless Thread ·

2025/03/14

Every day, seven days a week, for eight hours or more, Hasan Piker is live on the video game streaming platform Twitch. This is where he shares his political commentary with a dedicated community of viewers — many of whom fall into a particularly sought-after electoral demographic: young men.One of the dominant theories about the re-election of President Donald Trump in November 2024 was that it was aided by commentators like Piker: brash and bro-y. But Piker is a Socialist, considerably to the

en-us

434 results

Similar Podcasts

Lead With AI

Tamara Nall

Linux in the Ham Shack

Black Sparrow Media

Data Engineering Podcast

Tobias Macey

Eye On A.I.

Craig S. Smith

Reflections

Livewire Labs