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 arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov by French authorities is part of a broader shift away from the free speech absolutism long championed by Big Tech. The Washington Post’s Will Oremus explains.
24 min
2
Antibiotics for coral reefs
Vox’s Benji Jones takes us diving in a coral reef to learn how scientists are trying to save them.
24 min
3
How sanctions backfire
American sanctions can destroy a country’s economy. The unintended consequences are massive in places like Venezuela and Syria. Jeff Stein of the Washington Post explains why the US is so committed to a mistake.
23 min
4
How Trump wins
Donald Trump hasn’t yet figured out how to run a disciplined campaign against Kamala Harris. In the meantime, he’s leaning into the weird.
22 min
5
The silent war
The story of Army specialist Austin Valley highlights a crisis the US military can’t seem to solve: More service members die by suicide than in combat. A veteran psychologist told Congress what to do about it, and today he tells us.
27 min
6
Equal-opportunity murderball
For the first time, a woman is playing on the US wheelchair rugby team at the Paralympics. It’s a sign of progress in the complicated arena of co-ed sports.
22 min
7
Israel vs. Hezbollah
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
8
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
9
Hackers probably stole your Social Security number
Vox’s Adam Clark Estes explains why that might be a good thing.
23 min
10
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
11
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
12
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
13
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
14
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
15
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
16
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
17
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
18
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
19
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
20
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
21
A green medal for Paris?
Paris wanted this to be the greenest Olympics ever. We assess.
24 min
22
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
23
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
24
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
25
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.