Solar energy is only generated while the sun is up, and wind energy while the wind is blowing. But our power grids are designed to respond to demand whenever it occurs. Even suddenly, as is the case with storms and heat waves.
When solar and wind are not available and demand spikes, power companies need to burn fossil fuels — particularly natural gas, because it can be stored easily. If we want a power grid that relies solely on solar and wind energy, we’ll need to come up with ways to store them. Luckily, experts and engineers worldwide are coming up with some genius plans.
Watch the video above to learn more about how we might be able to store solar and wind energy and, finally, transition away from fossil fuels.
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]]>Like this video? It’s part of a bigger project: Check out our story on what US weapons can tell us about the Russia-Ukraine war by Vox senior writer Jonathan Guyer, done in collaboration with this work!
President Joe Biden quickly began approving huge packages of weapons to help Ukraine stymie the Russian attack. And for the first couple of weeks, it worked. The Ukrainian army used weapons from the US and its Western allies to stop Russia from capturing Kiev.
As the war progressed, so did US help. It sent heavy artillery in the spring, and then sent tanks in winter 2023. But each time, it deliberated over whether Ukraine can effectively use what was being sent, and whether the new weapons would provoke Russia to escalate the conflict.
So far, that hasn’t happened, and the US and its allies are now considering sending Ukraine long-range missiles and F-16 fighter jets. Both would be game changers for Ukraine.
You can find this video and the entire library of Vox’s videos on YouTube.
]]>Microchips were first invented in the US in the 1950s, after which their use rapidly expanded worldwide. Since then, the supply chain for these chips has grown and spread to include countries in Europe and Asia. And while some countries have caught up to the US’s edge in making these advanced chips, China still falls far behind despite multiple attempts to gain an advantage.
Watch the latest episode of Vox Atlas to understand why China is losing this Cold War with the US over microchips.
You can find this video and all of Vox’s videos on YouTube.
]]>The last 14 World Cup locations were decided by a group of 24 powerful men within FIFA called the executive committee. Their votes meant a lot to bidding nations and allegations on bidders bribing members of the committee lingered for decades. These allegations reached a new level when criminal investigations were launched nearly five years after that FIFA announcement. The fallout of these investigations nearly broke FIFA and tainted the World Cup.
Watch the latest episode of Vox Atlas to understand how FIFA corrupted the World Cup host selection process.
You can find this video and all of Vox’s videos on YouTube.
]]>Lula is arguably Brazil’s best-known and most complex politician. He helped form a powerful political party, had two consecutive terms in office, and even served prison time over corruption and bribery allegations. After four years of Bolsonaro’s presidency, the core of Lula’s campaign has focused on restoring the Brazil of his own presidency. But a lot has changed in Brazil since his time in office.
Watch the video above for a glance at Lula’s career and to understand why his second presidency would be very different from his first.
You can find this video and all of Vox’s videos on YouTube.
]]>Ukraine pulled off this victory by taking advantage of a surprising weakness in the Russian army: the difficulty it has had maintaining its ranks of skilled soldiers, especially compared to the training and resources Ukraine’s army has received from its allies. Reports suggest that Russia’s army has suffered catastrophic losses in the war and that it has attempted to replace those more highly trained forces with large numbers of mercenaries, prisoners, and men over 40. It’s an army that was stretched thin and vulnerable to the multi-pronged attack Ukraine launched in September.
Russia still controls a large amount of territory in southern Ukraine, including two major cities. But Ukraine’s victory outside of Kharkiv signals a new chapter in the war — one where, remarkably, Ukraine seems to have a shot at driving out the Russians completely.
Watch the video to learn more about why this attack worked and why it matters so much.
You can find this video and more on Vox’s YouTube Channel.
]]>The government claims that Cairo has become too overcrowded and that moving the capital will give both Cairo’s residents and government workers more space. But this excuse is not new. For decades, Egypt’s rulers have been building brand new cities in the desert. None of them have solved Cairo’s density issue. And based on how construction is going, this new capital won’t be a solution either.
So, why does Egypt want a new capital? Well, it has a lot to do with the political revolution in 2011.
Watch this episode of Vox Atlas to understand the real reason behind Egypt’s giant new capital city.
You can find this video and more on Vox’s YouTube Channel.
]]>But now it’s 2022, and so far California’s high-speed rail line is just a few concrete bridges and viaducts strewn across the rural Central Valley. Much of the plan had to be changed, redesigned, or abandoned altogether. Now the project is decades late and way over budget. And that isn’t just California’s problem. Because among the many factors that plagued the project, several are baked into the power structure of the US itself.
Watch the video to understand just how difficult the US makes it to build infrastructure like California’s high-speed rail line.
You can find the entire library of Vox’s videos on our YouTube channel.
]]>When European colonizers arrived in the 16th century, they were captivated by rumors of a golden city, hidden somewhere in the rainforest. Their search for “El Dorado” lasted more than a century, but only resulted in disaster, death, and further conquest of the Indigenous peoples there.
Experts thereafter looked at the Amazon and saw only a desolate jungle; too harsh for extensive agriculture, and therefore sparsely populated. They believed that it had always been that way.
Until recently.
Beginning in the late 20th century, archaeologists began looking more closely at the forest floor. Working with the Indigenous people who still remained there, they excavated long ditches and mounds. After mapping them, they could see that these were the markings of large settlements; walls, moats, plazas, and roads that connected to even more settlements.
And they were all over the Amazon.
This video is part of Vox’s series Atlas, in which we explain how foreign policy shapes a region. Watch more of Atlas in a playlist here.
You can find the entire library of Vox’s videos on our YouTube channel.
]]>Now, Nazaré is known around the world as the capital of big wave surfing. It’s where five of the six biggest waves ever surfed happened. The secret to Nazaré’s giant waves lies under the surface, where a huge underwater canyon funnels swells right up to its cliffs, then launches that energy straight up, sometimes 60, 70, or 80 feet in the air. Many surfers are here in the hope of catching a 100-foot wave and making big wave surfing history.
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