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.
And once a brand has lost its cool, it's almost impossible to get it back.
23 min
52
Is Platner too “authentic”?
Senate candidate Graham Platner swept the Maine Democratic primary no problem. The question is whether his "authenticity" can carry him past his scandals to a win in November.
23 min
53
America's birthday blues
America's 250th birthday party has gotten political. So did its last big one.
23 min
54
Putin's plan to live forever
Russia has long been a cradle of modern longevity science, even before its current president started spending billions to extend his life.
24 min
55
DIY or don’t?
YouTube has advice for how to do everything from plumbing to electrical work. Should you take it?
26 min
56
Can corruption drive voter turnout?
We went to Virginia to report on redistricting. What we found was a potential new message for Democrats to win over voters.
25 min
57
The Ferrari of electric vehicles
Ferrari is about to drop an almost $700,000 electric vehicle on the market. It has even fewer fans than the typical EV.
23 min
58
Why Israel won’t stop
Trump and Netanyahu are beefing over Israel's continued attacks on Lebanon. Israel has seized land there, in Gaza, and in Syria. And in service of something called "Greater Israel," it may not be done yet.
23 min
59
Trump enters his flop era
The Trump administration will no longer create a $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, the latest in a series of losses for the President and his agenda.
23 min
60
AI goes IPO
Some of the richest companies on Earth want your money. OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX are racing to raise as much of it as possible by going public.
23 min
61
Ebola conspiracies
As Ebola continues to spread in Central and East Africa, conspiracies and myths about the disease are making it harder to control.
23 min
62
Why people cheat
Our fears about infidelity reveal a lot about us. And so do our reasons for cheating.
26 min
63
You voted. Does it matter?
Democrats talk a lot about protecting democracy, but for most Americans, the system was written to exclude them a long time ago.
25 min
64
The steroid olympics
The Enhanced Games are kind of like the Olympics except everyone is on performance enhancing drugs. The organizers want to push back on the shame of doping. But they're also trying to sell you something.
23 min
65
The fall of Ben Shapiro
Ben Shapiro used to be the leading voice in MAGA media. His downfall tells a bigger story of chaos and shifting allegiances in the conservative media world.
23 min
66
Raw milk is having a mooment
Lawmakers around the country are trying to make it easier to access raw milk. Our co-host Sean takes a sip.
24 min
67
Cuba, too
Cuba seems willing to concede more than ever if the Trump administration is willing to take the win.
23 min
68
Dating my AI
Real-life humans are searching for love and seem to be finding it… with their chatbots. We revisit our conversation with them.
22 min
69
Ew, are we post-literate?
In this episode from last year, we explain how a return to orality is frying our politics and our brains.
23 min
70
Late night’s long goodbye
The end of Colbert is just the beginning.
23 min
71
Everything is clips now
An army of people posting clips of podcasts, songs, and movies has taken over your algorithm, which means everything you see could be a psyop.
24 min
72
The Great American Road Trip?
The Secretary of Transportation took a sponsored road trip across the US with his wife and nine kids. Now if only Boeing could pay for YOUR family's summer vacation.
24 min
73
How the right embraced psychedelics
The MAGA right is enthusiastically embracing a potent psychedelic called ibogaine. Its the new counter-counter-culture.
23 min
74
Prepping for doomsday (or Tuesday)
How to prepare for the worst while still living your best life.
26 min
75
The data center war
There’s a growing disconnect between a local community that says it’s being treated as the "guinea pigs" in a new industrial revolution, and Washington politicians.