Close All Tabs

In this special Halloween edition of Close All Tabs, we’re diving into creepypastas: horror stories that spread online until they become urban legends on their own. What happened to the girl who fell into a mirror in 2001? Did Ted the Caver ever come back to the surface? Was the Momo challenge real? And finally, we venture into eBay’s haunted doll marketplace … where we may have ended up with a spirit wreaking havoc on the production of this episode. It’s a ghoulish good time.  Guests: Hallie Tut, visual effects artist, and digital content creator Craig Groshek, horror author and founder of Chilling Tales for Dark Nights Ted Hegemann, author of "Ted the Caver” Rena Lee, social media manager Sophia Bruno, educational nonprofit coordinator Paranormal Teej, haunted doll collector & paranormal investigator Further Reading/Listening: How She Creates VFX Shots That Break Your Brain — Hallie Tut, Youtube Momo (Creepypasta) — Villains Wiki Momo Challenge Is Everything That’s Wrong with the Internet — Lance Ulanoff, Medium Ubume — Yokai.com How 'Momo', a global social media hoax about a paranormal threat to kids, morphed into a U.S. viral phenomenon — Ben Collins and Shoshana Wodinsky, NBC News Finally, the truth behind the 'haunted' Dybbuk Box can be revealed — Inverse The witches of eBay: Inside the industry selling haunted items online — Daniella Scott, Cosmopolitan The Backrooms: How Kane Parsons turned creepypasta into cinema — Jack Mills, Dazed The Eerie Backstory Behind Backrooms — Nadira Goffe, Slate Revisiting Creepypasta, the Social Horror Craze That Launched Slenderman — Zac Thompson, VICE Read the Transcript here Email us at [email protected] Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠ Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional production by Cayla Mihalovich. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard and Chris Egusa. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year’s internet breakout star was an order of Catholic sisters with a podcast. Within weeks of launching, Dominican Sisters Open Mic went mega viral. Clips and fan edits of host Sister Miriam saying “Sister, yesss!” spread across social media. Secular women’s magazines and Catholic media alike dubbed this year a “nun girl summer.” At the same time, some have criticized the order behind the podcast for the conservative ideology baked into its educational content. In this episode, we explore how the Dominican Sisters of Mary rose to viral fame, the beliefs behind their easy charm and infectious laughter, and what it all says about the cultural moment we’re in. Guests: Paul Dailey, director of marketing at Openlight Media Sister Thu T. Do, Sister of the Lovers of the Holy Cross of Hanoi and Research Associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Georgetown University Dr. Tricia Bruce, Sociology of Religion and Director of Social Science Research, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies Matthew Remski, religion and politics journalist, co-host of Conspirituality and author of Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times Further Reading/Listening: Don’t Call Them Nuns. They’re Podcasters. — Madison Malone Kircher, NYT Why Are So Many People Listening to a Podcast About Living in a Convent? — Luis Parrales, The Atlantic The TikTok Nuns Have Everyone in a Chokehold — Christen A. Johnson, Cosmopolitan The Next Hot Trend Might Just Be ‘Nun Girl Summer’ — Amy Glover, Huffington Post Read the Transcript here Email us at [email protected] Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠ Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional production by Cayla Mihalovich. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humans are complicated, and relationships can be messy, so it may be no surprise that people are falling in love with chatbots. They are available 24/7, hang on your every word and never ask anything of you. Amelia Miller, a human-AI relationship coach, sees danger in our reliance on bots for intimacy and companionship. Guest: Amelia Miller, human-AI relationship coach; fellow, Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center Further Reading/Listening: Are Chatbots Harming Our Relationships? — Lesley McClurg, KQED Read the Transcript here Email us at [email protected] Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠ Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional production by Cayla Mihalovich. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seems like everywhere you turn these days, influencers are gushing about their peptide use and how it’s done wonders for their appearance and health. One of the more popular ones, Melanotan II, also known as the “Barbie” peptide, is said to give you a tan without the harmful effects of sun exposure. But many of these substances aren’t approved by the FDA and are often sold through unregulated gray market sources. So, how safe is any of this stuff? And what does the peptide boom tell us about the risks people will take in the name of “looksmaxxing?” Morgan talks to skin cancer surgeon Dr. Sungat Grewal and board certified dermatologist Dr. Caren Campbell about the risks of taking peptides. Then Morgan and STAT News reporter Sarah Todd break down how American medical libertarianism and the MAHA movement led us to this very point in time.  Guests: Dr. Sungat Grewal, double board-certified dermatologist and Mohs surgeon Dr. Caren Campbell, board-certified dermatologist Sarah Todd, reporter for STAT News Further Reading/Listening: What the peptide craze reveals about Americans’ relationship with risk — Sarah Todd, STAT News FDA advisory panel narrowly rejects compounding of one peptide, backs two others  — Lizzy Lawrence and Sarah Todd, STAT News FDA panel backs compounded BPC-157, KPV peptides in win for RFK Jr. — Sarah Todd and Lizzy Lawrence, STAT News What the peptide craze reveals about Americans’ relationship with risk — Sarah Todd, STAT News Is Tanmaxxing an Addiction? A Dermatologist and Psychologist Explains — Katie Berohn, ELLE Inside the Weird New World of Peptide Tanning — Savannah Sobrevilla, GQ  Melanotan: The "Barbie drug" tanning peptide, explained — Carly Mallenbaum, Axios Inside the Viral Tanning Peptide That Accidentally Created Vyleesi’s FDA-Approved Low Sex Drive Drug — Sara Kitnick, LA Times Studios The FDA May Reverse a Ban on 14 Injectable Peptides—What That Means For the Beauty Industry — Kara Nesvig, Allure The Skin Cancer Foundation Issues Warning Regarding Melanotan II —  Deborah S. Sarnoff, MD, Skin Cancer Foundation Read the Transcript here Email us at [email protected] Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠ Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional production by Cayla Mihalovich. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People really seem to hate data centers. And the more people learn about the amount of resources these server-packed buildings need, the bigger the backlash grows. Perhaps that’s why the viral music video and beverage ad “We Want Your Pee” took off in popularity about a month ago. It’s a collaboration between Liquid Death and Jason Kelce’s Garage Beer, and it advocates that urine could address the cooling needs of data centers. It’s obviously a joke… but could it actually work? Host Morgan Sung talks to journalist Amanda Silberling about what she discovered when she looked into this question, and about the alternative cooling methods that might actually help everyone’s least favorite buildings use a little less H2O.   Guest: Amanda Silberling, senior writer at TechCrunch Further Reading/Listening: OK, can we actually cool data centers with our pee? — Amanda Silberling, TechCrunch AI was supposed to win people over by now -- it hasn't — Sarah Perez, TechCrunch Major YouTube creators are facing backlash for accepting AI money — Charles Pulliam-Moore, The Verge Why OpenAI’s influencer trip backfired — The Art of Influence Americans’ views of data centers have turned more negative — Brian Kennedy, Pew Research NASA just recycled 98% of all astronaut pee and sweat on the ISS (engineers are thrilled) — Robert Lea, Space Read the Transcript here Email us at [email protected] Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠ Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Our intern is Lauren Yoon.  Additional production support from Cayla Mihalovich. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices