Finding joy in unexpected sounds and shapes

Have you ever heard an odd sound that sounds oddly musical? The subreddit r/SoundsLikeMusic showcases strange sounds turned into music.

The value of social media isn't the technology. It's us.

The Washington Post tech columnist Taylor Lorenz talks to host Ben Brock Johnson about her new book, "Extremely Online," where she argues that we've been paying too much attention to...

We are all nonplayable characters

Earlier this year, TikTok livestreamers began mimicking lifeless "nonplayable characters," or NPCs, by repeating motions and phrases like in a video game. Then, people started paying them to keep doing...

The Vault (from the vault)

Women are from Venus, men are from the Roman Empire?

Within a few months, the question "how often do men think about the Roman Empire?" conquered Instagram, TikTok and countless group chats — and then morphed into something else. What...

The Grand Can-Spiracy

In 1909, the Arizona Gazette ran an article that claimed an explorer by the name of G.E. Kincaid went into the national park for the Smithsonian and found caves full...

Introducing ICYMI: "How a Substack revived the dracula fandom"

From Slate's ICYMI podcast: How Dracula Daily brought a 1897 novel into the Tumblr age.

Chilling campfire stories for Halloween

Three chilling tales of haunted woods, computer bugs, and a mysterious hole to the unknown.

Episodes We Love: Listener beware… it’s ‘Goosebumps The Musical’

Happy Freaky Furby Friday

Dig into the creepy and paranormal corners of Furby internet — yes, that creepy-looking toy that came out 25 years ago! From haunted Furbys, cursed Furbys to ones that hunt......

How the internet changed the spider trade

With new and exotic species available at the click of a button, the digital age forever changed the multimillion-dollar arachnid industry. What has that meant for spiders?

Find A Grave: Social media icon

In this episode, we go to an historic Boston cemetery to try out findagrave.com — a volunteer-generated database of millions of graves worldwide. We had a hard time finding anyone...

Dune Boy

Back in 2013, the sand dunes of Michigan City, Indiana swallowed a six-year-old boy. It was a phenomenon that scientists thought was impossible. But Facebook recreational naturalists were on the...

The genre of influencers NBC's 'To Catch a Predator' spawned

NBC’s 'To Catch a Predator' captivated millions of viewers as it followed a vigilante group called Perverted Justice, which has a goal to thwart pedophiles searching the internet for minors....