Today, Explained is Vox's daily news explainer podcast. Hosts Sean Rameswaram and Noel King will guide you through the most important stories of the day.
The two are on the brink of starting a regional war. An analyst and a negotiator say without a ceasefire in Gaza, the Middle East could spin out of control.
24 min
27
Minion Jesus
A meme of a Minion being crucified went viral on TikTok in a very unusual way. Today, Explained’s Laura Bullard investigated and connected the dots all the way to the 2024 election.
23 min
28
Hackers probably stole your Social Security number
Vox’s Adam Clark Estes explains why that might be a good thing.
23 min
29
Stuck in space
Bloomberg’s Loren Grush explains how two astronauts got stuck on the International Space Station and astronaut Cady Coleman tells us why she is jealous of them.
23 min
30
How Kamala wins
Noel closes out her week in Chicago with a recap of Kamala Harris’s speech. Political strategist Mike Podhorzer looks ahead.
23 min
31
The migrant crisis, via Chicago
Around 50,000 migrants have poured into Chicago in the last two years. Some Chicagoans are furious. We talk to residents, clergy, and migrants on Chicago's South Side about an issue that may be Kamala Harris's biggest liability.
23 min
32
Kamala's party
The Democrats call Black women the "backbone" of their party. We ask three Black women delegates in Chicago about making history, Gaza, and Black men voting for Trump.
23 min
33
What kind of Democrat should Kamala Harris be?
The last two Democratic presidents took distinct approaches toward leading their party and the nation. New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait explains why he thinks Kamala Harris should embrace Barack Obama’s style of governance over Joe Biden’s.
23 min
34
The Chicago DNC everyone wants to forget
When Chicago hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1968, it descended into riots in the street and chaos on the floor. Historian Rick Perlstein talks about whether 2024 risks a repeat.
22 min
35
Dating sucks right now
But it doesn't have to. Myisha Battle, a sexologist and host of KCRW’s How's Your Sex Life?, tells us how to move beyond the apps.
23 min
36
The late, great Hannibal Lecter
Donald Trump keeps referencing the infamous fictional cannibal in his speeches. Intelligencer’s Margaret Hartmann attempts to explain why.
23 min
37
So you toppled an autocrat
Bangladeshis are about to find out if a Nobel laureate can run their government better than a nepo baby.
22 min
38
The tech titans backing Trump
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are vying for Silicon Valley's support. Democrats typically get it. But Elon Musk threw his weight behind Trump in an interview last night on X. The Wall Street Journal's Emily Glazer examines a shift in the valley's values.
23 min
39
ClassGPT
Students are returning to college campuses this month armed with generative AI tools. One professor who has banned them and one who has embraced them explain why.
23 min
40
A green medal for Paris?
Paris wanted this to be the greenest Olympics ever. We assess.
24 min
41
Ecstasy Therapy: Bad trip
A clinical trial for MDMA-assisted therapy showed promising results. But participants who say they suffered afterward allege their experiences aren’t reflected in the data.
24 min
42
Riots in the UK
Disinformation after a knife attack in the UK transformed a local tragedy into nationwide upheaval. The Guardian's Robyn Vinter explains how it got to this point.
23 min
43
It's Tim Walz
The governor of Minnesota is Kamala Harris’s running mate. Minnesota Public Radio’s Dana Ferguson and Vox’s Andrew Prokop explain the Democratic ticket.
23 min
44
RIP Project 2025?
Project 2025 and J.D. Vance have brought fringe policies to the presidential campaign. Democrats are using both to label the Republican ticket "weird." Shelby Talcott of Semafor and Eli Stokols from Politico explain how this messaging strikes voters.
23 min
45
Ecstasy Therapy: How MDMA became medicine
Military veterans are unlikely collaborators with the psychedelic counterculture. The two groups’ efforts are being tested this month, when the FDA is poised to announce whether or not it’ll approve MDMA for PTSD.
25 min
46
Ecstasy Therapy: Penicillin for the soul
In 1980s Berkeley, an eccentric chemist and his wife, a self-taught therapist, experimented with MDMA. Their work would kickstart a decades-long campaign to mainstream psychedelics as a therapeutic tool — one that’s coming to a head this month, with a decision due from the FDA.
25 min
47
What will save men’s gymnastics?
2008 was the last time US male gymnasts won a medal at an Olympics. Justin Spring was on the team. He says that this week’s bronze medal and the team’s social media stars could help resuscitate the sport.
22 min
48
Why we’re all populists now
Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Kamala Harris all want to distance themselves from the inflation and bad vibes of President Biden’s economy. The Washington Post’s Jeff Stein explains why both parties are upending decades of economic norms.
23 min
49
Is your refrigerator running?
Fridges are our go-to way of storing food, but they’re not good for the planet or even good for a lot of our food. Gastropod’s Nicola Twilley, author of a new book on refrigeration, says there are chiller options for our cold storage challenges.
23 min
50
Breaking the Olympics
Breaking will dance its way into the Olympics this summer. B-boy historian Alien Ness says this is destiny.