Today, Explained

Reigniting Syria's civil war

05 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A rebel group changed the course of Syria's long civil war when it seized Aleppo this past weekend. The Syria Report's Jihad Yazigi tells us what moti...

Can DOGE cut $2 trillion?

04 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Elon, Vivek, and the Department of Government Efficiency want to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. A libertarian says the only way to do that i...

The Hunter becomes the pardoned

03 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On Saturday, future President Donald Trump announced Kash Patel would lead the FBI. On Sunday, current President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter. Co...

Wrestling with the Education Department

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Trump has named wrestling tycoon Linda McMahon to be his secretary of education. She’ll be tasked with his campaign promise of … closing the depar...

How Abercrombie made a comeback

29 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Fast Company’s senior fashion writer Elizabeth Segran explains how the company overcame a problematic history to pull off a renaissance in this rebr...

Why volunteering is worth it

27 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Many of us think our individual actions can’t combat systemic problems. Vox's Rachel Cohen and Bowling Alone author Robert Putnam explain why volunt...

Handing off a war

26 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Two American presidents are trying to shape the future of the war in Ukraine at the same time. This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh and Haleema ...

The Democrat who won in Trump country

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

US Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez was one of the few Democrats to win a swing district in the 2024 election. She explains what lessons Democrats can lea...

Breaking up with your parents

22 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Writer Emi Nietfeld says she felt relief when she cut her mom out of her life. Clinical psychologist Joshua Coleman explains why family estrangement i...

Robert Fluoride Kennedy Jr.

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If RFK Jr. leads the Department of Health and Human Services, he could radically reshape public health priorities in America, from vaccines to fluorid...

The kids aren't reading all right

20 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

College students in 2024 are less willing and able to read full books. Today, Explained asks whether that matters. This episode was produced by Peter ...

Deportation nation

19 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

President-elect Donald Trump has promised mass deportations. "Operation Wetback" from the Eisenhower days is serving as inspiration. This episode was ...

Team America

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated some unconventional people to his Cabinet, including Fox News host Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense. Wa...

When docs cry

15 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Prince is the subject of a new film from one of the greatest living documentarians, but it might never come out and almost no one’s seen it. We talk...

There's a new tariff in town

14 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Trump’s tariffs could remake world trade. The Wall Street Journal’s Greg Ip explains the president-elect’s plan and how the world is preparing. ...

The Bro Brogan presidency

13 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An air of musky manliness settled over the 2024 presidential campaign and brought the bros to the polls. But a second Trump term has some women sweari...

A live-forever diet?

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The quest to live forever has taken us from diet fads to geographic fantasies like Blue Zones. But none of these ideas are based in reality, according...

Does #Resist still exist?

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It looks like Donald Trump will arrive in Washington without much of a movement in place to challenge him. Politico’s Melanie Mason and Vox’s Chri...

The world Trump inherits

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Vox’s Joshua Keating explains how Trump’s foreign policy will influence some of the world’s biggest conflicts. This episode was produced by Pete...

Pin the fail on the donkey

07 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Democrats lost big on Election Day: the presidency, the Senate, and maybe the House too. Vox's Eric Levitz explains what went wrong, and political str...

Trump country

06 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump won. Vox’s Andrew Prokop explains how and Semafor’s Shelby Talcott explains what comes next. Today’s show was produced by Amanda Le...

The most important “most important election”?

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It seems as though every election is “the most important election of our lifetime." Historian Jeffrey Engel and political scientist Julia Azari asse...

How Gaza could decide the election

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The key battleground state of Michigan could be decided by Arab American voters disappointed with Democrats' handling of the war in Gaza. Detroit Free...

Why everybody's running marathons now

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Marathon participation is surging, fueled in large part by 20-somethings who’ve embraced distance running as a way to deal with their quarter-life c...

Did the Dodgers save baseball?

31 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dodger Blue Dream podcast host Richard Parks III looks back on a cinematic season. The Wall Street Journal’s Jared Diamond explains whether it was e...

Polar opposites

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Florida is looking to turn one of its last apolitical offices into yet another partisan job. It's the latest example of political polarization making ...

How Trump could steal the election

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump doesn't want to let losing the election stop him from taking the White House. Politico's Kyle Cheney details the Trump plan to overturn a...

It's the economy, stupid

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Economic concerns are shaping this year’s election, especially in Nevada. As candidates promise no taxes on you-name-it, it’s a glimpse into how e...

Why do I keep getting these weird fundraising texts?

27 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this special feed drop of the new Vox podcast Explain It to Me, we answer some of the questions you have asked Vox about the election, like why you...

Is there a Dr Pepper in the house?

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Pepper has overtaken Pepsi as the second-bestselling soda in the US. Its rise helps explain dirty sodas, healthy sodas, and the overall explosion o...

Musk’s million dollar giveaway

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Elon Musk has become Trump’s most important fundraiser and his hands-on approach is breaking political norms, according to Tim Higgins and Dana Matt...

Demographics aren't destiny

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Latinos and other groups that typically vote for Democrats are showing weaker support for Kamala Harris. Vox's Christian Paz and Cook Political Report...

The battle for Congress

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Republicans are projected to take the Senate in November, but Democrats have a fighting chance to win the House — if they can turn out a broad anti-...

Category 2024

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

WFAE’s Steve Harrison explains how North Carolina is readying itself for Election Day after Hurricane Helene. And CNN’s Sara Murray says other sta...

Reconsidering the Menendez brothers

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A new documentary and a Ryan Murphy drama have Lyle and Erik Menendez back in the news. Vox's Aja Romano explains how new evidence and new attitudes a...

Is Trump for real?

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump talked over the weekend about deploying the military against an "enemy from within." The Washington Post's Isaac Arnsdorf explains how Tr...

The minds behind MAGA

16 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Vox's Andrew Prokop and Zack Beauchamp explain the right-wing thinkers whose ideas could dominate Trump's next term. This episode was produced by Pete...

Can Democrats win back rural voters?

15 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wisconsin wasn’t always a battleground state, but following Trump’s victory there in 2016, Democrats are trying to regain their footing among rura...

Pennies don’t make cents

11 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Pennies cost more than a cent to make — and no one spends them. The New York Times Magazine’s Caity Weaver explains why we can’t get rid of them...

A hurricane of misinformation

10 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Lies about disaster relief are spreading like never before this hurricane season, and it’s making FEMA’s job harder. Juliette Kayyem, author of Th...

Mysterious Melania

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Book critic Martin Pengelly read MELANIA so you don’t have to. Intelligencer’s Margaret Hartmann says the book is the latest in a long line of Tru...

Abortion on the ballot

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ten states have an initiative on the ballot that would protect access to abortion. KJZZ’s Camryn Sanchez explains how Arizona's Proposition 139 coul...

The future of Gaza

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's been one year since Hamas attacked Israel and started a war in Gaza. Israelis and Palestinians look back, and Vox's Joshua Keating says Israel's ...

Puberty hits different now

04 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kids are going through puberty earlier, and scientists think they have found another reason why. Pediatrician Dr. Cara Natterson and puberty educator ...

Christmas in October

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro landed himself on the naughty list for stealing an election. He's hoping an early Christmas will improve his stan...

Mr. Veep

02 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Vox's Andrew Prokop says the vice-presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance was about policy, but in a weird way. Professor and pollster Dan C...

Israel’s escalation

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tanks, rockets, missiles, and the death of Hassan Nasrallah. Israel is asserting itself as the most powerful player in the Middle East. This episode w...

How to win Pennsylvania

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Vox’s Christian Paz and Miles Bryan head to Philadelphia and Lancaster to see what the Harris and Trump campaigns are doing to win the state. This e...

The office vs. everyone else

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Amazon is the latest high-profile company to mandate in-person work five days a week. Today, Explained heads to Miami, where many people are back in t...

Leaving America for work-life balance

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today, Explained flies to Portugal to find out how the dust has settled on the pandemic-era quest for better living and working conditions. This episo...

AI’s nuclear option

25 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Microsoft needs so much energy for its AI data centers that it’s helping to reboot Three Mile Island, the site of the US’s worst nuclear accident....

War in Lebanon?

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It looks a lot like all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah. Semafor’s Sarah Dadouch has the latest from Beirut and CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh explai...

Start the steal?

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A partisan election board in Georgia has been trying to change the rules around voting and election certification. It's giving 2020. In the first epis...

Everybody's gone country

20 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Country music is cool again!!!!! Billboard's Melinda Newman explains. This episode was reported and produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Amina Al-Sadi...

Republicans are getting raunchy

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Conservatives have started claiming hot girls as a culture war victory. Vox's Constance Grady explains why. This episode was produced by Haleema Shah ...

Your phone is banned, fellow kids

18 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Educators and politicians across the nation are banning cellphones in classrooms. Today, Explained’s Miles Bryan visits a school in Philadelphia to ...

The return of easy money

17 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Federal Reserve is set to make its first interest rate cut since the pandemic ended. Marketplace's Kimberly Adams explains how the move could impa...

The Ohio pet panic

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

No, Haitian immigrants aren’t eating anyone’s pets. USA Today-Ohio’s Erin Glynn and the Verge’s Gaby Del Valle explain why Republicans are tal...

We can't trust photos anymore

13 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week Apple announced its first AI iPhone with features that will make it even easier to edit your photos. But manipulating reality worries photoj...

Stop the steel

12 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Once the world's largest corporation, the now-struggling US Steel wants to sell itself to Japan's Nippon Steel. The United Steelworkers oppose the dea...

Who took debait?

11 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A conservative and a liberal wrangle over how the Harris-Trump debate should have gone. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy and Amanda Lewellyn...

The Pope’s big bet on China

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most significant parts of Pope Francis’s Asia tour might be a country he isn’t visiting: China, home to 10 million Catholics, with whom...

Revenge of the regulators

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 Te...

Antibiotics for coral reefs

06 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Vox’s Benji Jones takes us diving in a coral reef to learn how scientists are trying to save them. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edite...

How sanctions backfire

05 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

American sanctions can destroy a country’s economy. The unintended consequences are massive in places like Venezuela and Syria. Jeff Stein of the Wa...

How Trump wins

04 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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. This ep...

The silent war

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 comb...

Equal-opportunity murderball

30 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Israel vs. Hezbollah

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 co...

Minion Jesus

28 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Hackers probably stole your Social Security number

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Vox’s Adam Clark Estes explains why that might be a good thing. This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by L...

Stuck in space

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Bloomberg’s Loren Grush explains how two astronauts got stuck on the International Space Station and astronaut Cady Coleman tells us why she is jeal...

How Kamala wins

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Noel closes out her week in Chicago with a recap of Kamala Harris’s speech. Political strategist Mike Podhorzer looks ahead. This episode was produc...

The migrant crisis, via Chicago

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 Chic...

Kamala's party

21 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

What kind of Democrat should Kamala Harris be?

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The last two Democratic presidents took distinct approaches toward leading their party and the nation. New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait explains w...

The Chicago DNC everyone wants to forget

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When Chicago hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1968, it descended into riots in the street and chaos on the floor. Historian Rick Perlstein...

Dating sucks right now

16 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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. This episode was ...

The late, great Hannibal Lecter

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump keeps referencing the infamous fictional cannibal in his speeches. Intelligencer’s Margaret Hartmann attempts to explain why. This epis...

So you toppled an autocrat

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Bangladeshis are about to find out if a Nobel laureate can run their government better than a nepo baby. This episode was produced by Haleema Shah wit...

The tech titans backing Trump

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 i...

ClassGPT

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

A green medal for Paris?

09 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Paris wanted this to be the greenest Olympics ever. We assess. This episode was produced by Denise Guerra, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by La...

Ecstasy Therapy: Bad trip

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A clinical trial for MDMA-assisted therapy showed promising results. But participants who say they suffered afterward allege their experiences aren’...

Riots in the UK

07 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

It's Tim Walz

06 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The governor of Minnesota is Kamala Harris’s running mate. Minnesota Public Radio’s Dana Ferguson and Vox’s Andrew Prokop explain the Democratic...

RIP Project 2025?

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Project 2025 and J.D. Vance have brought fringe policies to the presidential campaign. Democrats are using both to label the Republican ticket "weird....

Ecstasy Therapy: How MDMA became medicine

02 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Military veterans are unlikely collaborators with the psychedelic counterculture. The two groups’ efforts are being tested this month, when the FDA ...

Ecstasy Therapy: Penicillin for the soul

01 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1980s Berkeley, an eccentric chemist and his wife, a self-taught therapist, experimented with MDMA. Their work would kickstart a decades-long campa...

What will save men’s gymnastics?

31 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

2008 was the last time the US men’s gymnastics won a team medal at the Olympics. Justin Spring was part of that team, and he says that this week’s...

Why we’re all populists now

30 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 Washi...

Is your refrigerator running?

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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, aut...

Breaking the Olympics

26 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Breaking will dance its way into the Olympics this summer. B-boy historian Alien Ness says this is destiny. This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh...

Kamala’s meme-mentum

25 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kamala Harris memes have taken over the internet. Now she needs to figure out how to capitalize on them. This episode was produced by Peter Balonon-Ro...

Abercrombie is back

24 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Fast Company’s senior fashion writer Elizabeth Segran explains how the company overcame a problematic history to pull off a renaissance. This episod...

Dengue’s biggest year ever

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

More than 10 million people worldwide have contracted dengue from mosquitos this year. Now experts are worried it might show up at the Olympics. This ...

You did it, Joe

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

All bets are off as President Biden exits the 2024 race. Vox’s Andrew Prokop and Democratic strategist David Axelrod explain. This episode was produ...

Trump-a-mania at the RNC

19 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hulk Hogan delivered at the final night of the RNC, but did Donald Trump? We hear from two conservative strategists who do not agree on whether Trump'...

Why banning Juul backfired

18 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The US cracked down on Juul after an uptick in teen vaping and a flurry of health concerns. Podcaster Leon Neyfakh explains how the ban inadvertently ...

Trump just avoided 40 felony counts

17 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A federal judge has thrown out Trump's classified documents case. Wall Street Journal Justice Department reporter C. Ryan Barber explains what that mi...