Explainers
We live in a world of too much information and too little context. Too much noise and too little insight. That’s where Vox’s explainers come in.
The anatomy of a heat wave, from “heat domes” to megadroughts.
For all the attention on the border, the root causes of migration and the most promising solutions to the US’s broken immigration system are often overlooked.
Dopamine detoxing, hacking, and fasting: Is any of it real?
It’s not there yet — but we should be concerned.
Ozempic has become hugely popular. Researchers are racing to learn more about what it does to us.
Revised data from the health ministry turned into a debate about the war’s human cost. That death toll remains devastating.
Butker’s address was a textbook case of conservative sexism and homophobia.
Allegations of a “toxic work environment” have once again tarnished the pageant’s reputation.
The political intrigue behind the unusually early June debate date.
Much to the chagrin of the hedge funds attempting to short it.
Was the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair bought by the Egyptian government?
The detection of bird flu in cows and the commercial milk supply raises new concerns about the risks to public health.
Dev Patel’s action-packed directorial debut also takes aim at contemporary Indian politics.
Scientists have drastically improved our understanding of seismic events. Here are eight things to know.
The most basic answers to the most basic questions about the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Wendy Williams’s rise, reputation, and absence from her talk show, explained.
Did Alabama’s Supreme Court just ban IVF treatments?
Garland v. Cargill asks whether gun makers can evade the ban on machine guns with a device called a bump stock.
Navalny’s death is the end of an era for Russia — and cements Putin’s grip on power.
It’s hard to imagine this Supreme Court removing Trump from the ballot. But his lawyers gave the justices very little to work with.
The Constitution gives the Biden administration nearly exclusive authority over matters of immigration. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wants the courts to change that.
The Argylle authorship controversy, explained.
It’s an escalation in the region, but we’re not actually headed to outright war with Iran.
Congress’s interminable shutdown cycle, explained.
The fight over plagiarism is the harbinger of a messy new era.
Aaron Rodgers, explained for sports fans and non-sports fans alike.
The history of the Iowa caucuses (and their downfall?), briefly explained.
The justices are threatening to put themselves in charge of every single federal agency. They should resist that temptation.
The Constitution has a right to defend itself, but Trump also has a right to due process.
Meat production is making lifesaving drugs less effective. Where’s the FDA?
From farm to plate, one in four animals raised on factory farms are wasted.
Do therapists have a right to tell patients to “pray away the gay”? The Court is leaving that question open.
The evolution of a viral term, according to the “Livvy rizzed up Baby Gronk” guy.
Five deaths, millions in fraud, and 100 years of family power crumbling to ruin in South Carolina.
At the very moment the Supreme Court appears to be moderating on voting rights, GOP judges are going after America’s most important voting rights law.
A SCOTUS case aiming to protect rich people from taxes could lead to chaos for the federal government’s finances.
A timeline of the decades-long peace negotiations that came before the Israel-Hamas war.
The “unitary executive” is back, and it could supercharge Trump’s plans to fill the government with his own loyalists.
Why bin Laden’s 2002 letter became the latest TikTok moral panic.