Vox - Understand the News

Support our journalism: Millions rely on Vox’s explainers to understand an increasingly chaotic world. Chip in as little as $3 to help keep it free for everyone.

Top Stories

Europe’s new Covid-19 wave, explained

Countries with the fastest-spiraling outbreaks are reentering lockdowns.

By Julia Belluz

Montana’s Senate race was supposed to be easy for Republicans. It’s a dead heat.

Democrats are within reach of a second Senate seat in Montana.

By Ella Nilsen

Geothermal energy is poised for a big breakout

"An engineering problem that, when solved, solves energy."

By David Roberts

Why the US government is suing Google

The Department of Justice says the company’s anti-competitive business practices harm Americans.

By Shirin Ghaffary and Rani Molla

The world is worried about the coronavirus. It’s equally concerned about climate change.

Nearly 70 percent of people in 14 countries say climate change is as big a threat as the spread of infectious disease.

By Jariel Arvin

What “home for the holidays” means during a pandemic

Without specific guidance around whether — and how — to travel, some find themselves playing a game of risk roulette.

By Terry Nguyen

“We just don’t know what’s happening in our bodies”: Covid-19 long-haulers are still suffering

The terrible uncertainty of symptoms that persist for months and months.

By Lois Parshley

A political scientist explains why the GOP is a threat to American democracy

And why the November election is an opportunity to fix it.

By Sean Illing

Daily Podcast

Today, Explained

Subscribe Now

Block the vote?

The 2020 election is well underway, as are efforts to prevent people from voting.

The Latest

Vox’s audience support program, explained

By Vox Staff April 8

Trump’s team is pushing for a debate on foreign policy. That could backfire.

By Alex Ward October 21

Welcome to the Home Issue of The Highlight

By Vox Staff October 21

Home, bittersweet home

Can a single place — one that’s failed us in the past — squeeze in everything it takes to live a life?

By Foster Kamer October 21

How Biden — or Trump — could win 270 electoral votes

By Andrew Prokop October 20

Democrats are cheering a Supreme Court ruling on mail-in ballots. Here’s why it’s worse than it looks.

By Ian Millhiser October 19

How America could lose its allies

By Sam Ellis October 20

Vox Crossword

By Vox Staff October 21

Trump’s new attack: Biden “wants to listen to Fauci”

By Jerusalem Demsas October 20

From Vox Media

We're building great things, and we need your talent.

Silicon Valley megadonors unleash a last-minute, $100 million barrage of ads against Trump

By Theodore Schleifer October 20

Race in America

View All

3 of Trump’s signature immigration policies are on the line at the Supreme Court

By Nicole Narea October 20

2020’s psychedelic drug ballot measures, explained

By German Lopez October 20

What should Democrats do about the Supreme Court?

By Ezra Klein October 20

Bill Barr and Elizabeth Warren find a common enemy: Google

By Peter Kafka October 20

Trump said the opioid epidemic would go away. It didn’t.

By German Lopez October 20

Everywhere basic income has been tried, in one map

By Sigal Samuel October 20

Why everything from furniture to diet soda is so hard to buy right now

By Hilary George-Parkin October 20

This week in TikTok: The influencer hair salon that’s under attack

By Rebecca Jennings October 20

Can a pair of jeans kill the coronavirus?

By Jasmin Malik Chua October 20

Podcast

The Weeds

Subscribe Now

Trump's second term agenda

Dara, Jane, and Matt break down the policy stakes in 2020

The stakes of the Senate, explained

Texas Sen. John Cornyn is facing his first real challenge from newcomer MJ Hegar

By Nicole Narea October 20

Politics & Policy

The battle for Latino voters in Arizona and Florida, explained

Trump is trying to win over Latinos in two key states. Is it working?

By Nicole Narea October 20

A gruesome murder in France rekindles the country’s debate on free speech and Islam

By Alex Ward October 19

Colorado is fighting its largest wildfire in history

By Umair Irfan October 19

Senate Republicans could be the real roadblock to getting a stimulus deal passed

By Li Zhou October 19

How America gave up on fighting the pandemic and saving the economy

By Emily Stewart October 19

Report: Massachusetts rarely fires state troopers, “no matter what they have done”

By Jerusalem Demsas October 19

The US is plagued by long voting lines. Here’s how other countries do it better.

By Alex Ward October 19

The great hypocrisy of California using Indigenous practices to curb wildfires

By Rory Taylor October 19

Nancy Pelosi sets a deadline this week for getting a stimulus deal before the election

By Li Zhou October 19

One Good Thing: This animated miniseries perfectly captures the loneliness of autumn

By Emily VanDerWerff October 19

Hybrid school might be the worst of both worlds

By Anna North October 19

It’s the most important election in our lifetime, and it always will be

By Ezra Klein October 19

Fitness studios moved outside to stay afloat. Now winter is coming.

By Alex Abad-Santos October 19

Democrats want to rebuild the State Department. They’re deeply divided over how.

By Alex Ward October 19

John Cornyn becomes the latest Senate Republican to ramp up criticism of Trump

By Li Zhou October 18

Trump keeps on holding rallies even as Covid-19 cases surge

By Cameron Peters October 18

Sen. David Perdue’s racist treatment of Sen. Kamala Harris’s name was all too familiar

By Li Zhou October 18

The return of “lock her up”: Trump won’t stop attacking Gretchen Whitmer

By Cameron Peters October 18

SNL takes on dueling Trump and Biden town halls in its cold open

By Cameron Peters October 18