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Every airline is Spirit Airlines now

Spirit Airlines is out of the game, so which airline will inherit the ignominious title of most-hated airline in America? Among large carriers, the title passes to American Eagle, a network of regional flights operated by American Airlines, according to YouGov. If you’re looking at all US airlines, then Allegiant — a low-cost carrier that mostly services vacation destinations — was already less popular than Spirit was. Don’t underestimate the airline industry’s ability to give you new reasons to hate it, though. Some analysts predict that Spirit’s closure will push other airlines’ fares up: CBS found average fares rose roughly $60, or 23%, when Spirit exited a route. That’s on top of rising fuel costs from the war in Iran, which could lead airlines to cut flights, raise fares, and impose further fees. And you’ll still pay for your carry-on. Find out more at the link in our bio. 📸: Giorgio Vera/AFP via Getty Images

Birth rates keep falling. We need to confront reality.

Fertility rates in the US are down 23% since the most recent peak in 2007, according to the CDC. It’s the latest data point in a long global trend toward fewer children, which means our already aging populace will get even older over time, with fewer young workers to handle the economy and take care of the elderly in their twilight years. No low-birth country in the world, from the most repressive misogynistic regimes to the most progressive governments offering generous leave and free childcare, has been able to put their society on a path back to “replacement level” fertility. Establishing the enabling conditions so people can form the families they desire is a worthy goal deserving attention, but the hour grows late and it’s time to start talking seriously about how to adapt for an aging, low-birth society. It won’t happen on its own, though. America needs a national-level effort to futureproof the country against demographic changes, with all the physical, economic, political, and cultural shifts that will entail. Read more at the link in our bio.

The Supreme Court gets thrown back into the abortion wars

On Friday evening, the Fifth Circuit tried again to cut off access to the abortion drug mifepristone. This already happened in 2023, when the same court made a similar attempt. Soon after, two pharmaceutical companies asked the Supreme Court to step in. The last time this issue came up, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the Fifth Circuit’s argument and said federal courts did not even have the authority to hear the case. The legal issues now are almost the same as in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (2024), so the Court could rule the same way again. There is one hopeful sign. Justice Samuel Alito temporarily blocked the Fifth Circuit’s decision until May 11. But there is still reason to worry. Since gaining a supermajority, the Court’s Republican majority has sometimes made anti-abortion decisions that go against recent precedent. For example, in Medina v. Planned Parenthood (2025) and Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson (2021). So even though the legal arguments in Danco are very strong, it is still unclear whether the Court will follow its own precedent. Read more at the link in bio. 📸: Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images

Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy

In a lab room, a toddler, deaf from birth, sits while a tone plays. There’s no reaction. His face does not change. Six weeks later, after a single injection of an experimental gene therapy, he returns to that same room. The tone plays again, but this time his head turns, and when his grandfather says his name off screen, the boy turns and looks. He can hear. “When the parents realized their child had a response to sound they cried,” says Dr. Yilai Shu of the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University, who co-led the trial, in a video that showed the results. “The whole family cried.” This is what gene therapy can do in 2026. In late April, the FDA fast-tracked a gene therapy called Otarmeni for severe hearing loss caused by an OTOF gene mutation. In trials, 80% of patients gained hearing, 42% could hear whispers, and most were still hearing more than two years later. For families, it feels like a miracle. But the bigger story is how far gene therapy has come. After a fatal trial in 1999 nearly shut the field down, years of research made it safer and more effective. Now it can reverse some forms of inherited hearing loss. The question isn’t whether it works — it’s whether it can reach enough people at a price they can afford. Get those answers right, and what feels like a miracle to some in 2026 could become ordinary medicine. For more Good News, you can find the full story and the link to sign up for the newsletter at the link in bio. 📸: Svetlana Repnitskaya/Getty Images

MAHA wellness culture is coming for teens. Grown-ups aren’t ready.

For years, the “Make America Healthy Again” movement was driven by moms. Concerned about the safety of childhood vaccines and about chemicals in the food their kids were eating, they helped propel Donald Trump to the White House — and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the role of the nation’s top health influencer — with a message centered on fear for the next generation. Now, that next generation is here. The latest MAHA advocates to gain public attention are women in their teens or early 20s. Lexi Vrachalus, 20, posts videos of her seed-oil-free, sugar-free meals, snacks, and shopping trips. In a post around Easter, she made her own Peeps with maple syrup and beef gelatin. Her message: “You can take back health into your own hands,” she told me. “You have the power to heal your body.” Read more at the link in our bio. 🎨: Naomi Elliott for Vox

The surprising reason why pedestrian deaths are down in the US

There are many ways you could measure the health of a city — its air quality index, its population growth, the number of jobs it added last year. But another one not often high on the priority lists of city governments in the US: How safe is it to walk? The US has the grievous distinction among peer countries as being one of the most dangerous places in the developed world for walking down the street. American pedestrians are killed by cars at three times the rate of Canadians, four times the rate of Brits and Australians, and more than 13 times the rate of Norwegians. While we finally got a bit of good news about pedestrian safety in America — About 11% fewer pedestrians were killed in the first half of 2025, according to a preliminary report published by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) — the question still remains: Why did it suddenly become so much more dangerous to be a pedestrian in America? There’s almost certainly no single reason, but most experts Vox’s Marina Bolotnikova spoke to over the years have pointed to the growing popularity of SUVs and pickup trucks, which now make up an overwhelming share of car purchases in the US. These vehicles often make it harder for drivers to see pedestrians, and they’re more likely to seriously injure or kill people on foot because of their added weight and height. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, University of New Mexico engineering professor Nick Ferenchak, one of the country’s leading researchers on pedestrian and bicyclist safety, pointed to another, intriguing theory: Maybe there are just more pedestrians now. Not because Americans have suddenly discovered a love of long walks, but because an increasing number of people living outside pedestrian-friendly city centers can’t afford to get around any other way. Find out more reasons at the link in our bio.

The Voting Rights Act is all but dead. Prepare for maximum gerrymandering.

The Supreme Court just gutted the Voting Rights Act, and analysts say as many as a dozen Black Democratic members of Congress could lose their seats because of it. Vox's Ian Millhiser breaks down what the Court's decision in Callais means for Southern politics, congressional power, and who ultimately controls Congress. Read the full analysis at the link in bio. #court #scotus #voting #voting rights #callais #congress

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is capitalist art that hates capitalist art

The Devil Wears Prada is one of the great millennial fairy tales. Released in 2006, the year before the financial crisis and Great Recession would come for us all, the movie posits a subversive fantasy: Our heroine Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Anne Hathaway) believes that if she can figure out how to work for Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) for just one year, she can have any job in the industry that she wants. In the end, she learns that if you work hard and stay true to your values, you can have a good, well-paying job in New York City that doesn’t require selling your soul or betraying your friends. Given the way life has shaken out for many millennials, that story is now a bit depressing. But this generation has always wanted to believe that one can have a fulfilling job and fulfilling personal relationships, without having to suffer too much or inflict suffering on the world. And if we did sell our souls and our relationships, it’d actually be for the chicest job on the planet, and a launchpad to something greater. Now, some 20 years later, The Devil Wears Prada has returned for a sequel. Like the original, it runs on millennial optimism. But in this installment, its critiques — about money, society, art, commerce, and beauty — have a little less bite. By the time you get to the fairy tale ending, it’s impossible to ignore the creative and economic circumstances that brought this movie into existence, and the fact that when it comes to media and entertainment, a billionaire is lurking in every corner. Read the full story at the link in bio. 📸: Macall Polay

What twins can teach us about friendship

From birth, twins’ lives are inextricably linked. Brought up in the same environment at the same time, these siblings often inhabit similar educational, extracurricular, and social spaces, contributing to the expectation that twins share virtually everything, from interests to abilities. Because of this overlap, it makes sense twins would have overlap in their social circles, too. But as twins age and forge unique identities in young adulthood, they may find themselves making friends independently for the first time — a shift impacting both the sibling and friend relationships. Read more at the link in our bio. 🎨: Paola Saliby for Vox

The great 2028 Olympic ticket crashout, explained

The first ticket drop for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics resulted in a “crashout” for many fans and locals hoping to get a seat at the summer Games. Why? Because the process was confusing and the tickets were way more expensive than the $28 seats they were promised. 🎥: @sydneybergan #LA2028 #LAOlympics #LAOlympics2028 #LA28 #LA28Tickets

Why “neighborism” is having a moment

For years, the internet sold us the idea that connection doesn’t have to be local to be meaningful. Your people could live anywhere: in a Discord server, a group chat of far-flung friends, or a TikTok comment section. Geography was optional. Now, more people are turning toward the ones physically closest to them: the neighbor down the block, the parent from the playground, the person whose wifi shows up in your network list. It’s not just about wanting connection; folks are looking for support. Childcare is expensive. Rent and groceries are high. Climate emergencies are more frequent. For many Americans, the difference between stability and crisis comes down to whether someone nearby can help. Call it neighborism: the growing practice of treating proximity as a resource. Increasingly, digital tools aren’t replacing local relationships — they’re helping activate them. Send this to your neighbor or read more at the link in our bio. 🎨: Laura Simonati for Vox

Why famous people want to be death doulas

Nicole Kidman is becoming a death doula, and she’s not the first celebrity to do so. She's part of a larger cultural shift toward embracing death and a growing openness to talking about death in ways we never used to. Vox's Anna North spoke with death professionals like thanatologist and author Cole Imperi, about why more people are drawn to this work and what it actually means to show up for someone at the end of their life. Read Anna's article at the link in our bio. #doula #deathdoula #grief #loss #celebrity

The surprising reason why buying guns helps endangered species

Is it okay to fund wildlife conservation with guns? That’s the important question that’s raised by the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, commonly known as the Pittman-Robertson Act. Passed by Congress in 1937, the law channels revenue from a tax on firearms, ammo, and archery equipment to state wildlife agencies — government organizations that restore wildlife habitat, monitor threatened species, and oversee hunting and fishing. While wildlife agencies have relied on hunters for funding, the number of people who hunt has been slowly decreasing. But here’s the thing: While hunters have declined, gun sales in the US have increased dramatically, funneling more money overall to state wildlife agencies. “The money that is going toward this largely is being borne by people who may never, ever step into the field, may never go into a duck blind, may never go out to a hunting stand,” said Mark Oliva, managing director of public affairs at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade group for the firearms industry. And that, in turn, has prompted wildlife agencies to cater to this growing population of firearm users. Read more at the link in our bio. 🎨: Paige Vickers/Vox; Getty Images

The battle over rescuing 2,000 beagles from lab research is not over

It’s exceptionally rare that the tiny, perpetually marginal, and politically outmatched animal rights movement manages to capture national attention. A lack of attention is that movement’s core problem and central organizing question. How can it convince the public to make space in their minds for something they’d really, really prefer not to: the industrialized torture of animals by the billions for food, research, and other human ends? One coalition of grassroots activists has offered one possible answer. It has recently mounted one of the most audacious and most news-making animal rights campaigns in recent memory, and, in the process, turned an obscure breeder of beagles for biomedical experimentation into an issue of national political significance. On March 15, dozens of activists stormed Ridglan Farms, a dog facility outside Madison, Wisconsin, that raises beagles for research labs across the country and has been accused by state regulators of hundreds of animal welfare violations. The activists entered one of the company’s buildings and extracted 30 of the dogs held in cages there (who are, under the law, Ridglan’s property). Twenty-two beagles were driven off the site and have since been placed in homes, while eight were seized from activists by police and believed to be returned to Ridglan. That event produced an arresting set of images seen by tens of millions of Americans in the news and on social media, and it reached the agenda of political leaders all the way up to Congress and the Trump administration. This next rescue attempt, on April 18, unfolded much differently, when more than 1,000 activists arriving at the facility were caught off guard by a major show of force from law enforcement. One woman had her nose broken. A 67-year-old Navy veteran was pinned to the ground, covered with tear gas, and struggled to breathe as an officer pressed a knee into his back. Read more at the link in our bio. 📸: Yash Mangalick/Coalition to Save the Ridglan Dogs, Diana Hulet/Sanctuary Doc

This billionaire could be California’s next governor — and he wants to arrest Stephen Miller

If billionaire Tom Steyer becomes the governor of California, he wants criminal liability for ICE agents and their leadership. Vox’s Zack Beauchamp talked to Steyer about why holding leadership accountable is important. Read more of their interview at the link in our bio.

The sad, ugly debate behind the new Michael Jackson biopic

It was a record-breaking opening weekend for Michael, the new biopic about the tortured King of Pop, Michael Jackson. After the success of the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, which detailed Jackson’s alleged sexual abuse of multiple children, it was tempting to think that there was a permanent asterisk next to his name. Advertisers stopped using his music, and The Simpsons pulled his episode from syndication. Now, however, Leaving Neverland has been wiped from HBO after legal finagling from Jackson’s estate, and Michael is an enormous hit. We have clear proof that audiences are ready to put that unpleasantness behind them and instead embrace Jackson’s inarguable musical genius. Some audience members have doubtless made the calculation that with Jackson long dead, the accusations against him are distant, too, leaving them with no particular ethical reasons to deprive themselves of the pleasure of seeing a Michael Jackson concert recreation on the big screen. Other Jackson defenders have decided that Jackson was innocent. TikTok is full of videos laying out the basics of the case and asking “Guilty or innocent?”, with the majority of commenters saying “innocent.” “The world owes Michael an apology” is a sentiment that pops up a lot. Then there’s a variation on that defense, rooted in the long, ugly history of racism in the criminal justice system in America. Some of his defenders — including Michael director Antoine Fuqua — believe that Jackson was unfairly smeared by a system looking to bring down a successful Black man, in the same way that so many other Black men have been wrongly accused and maligned before. Read more at the link in our bio. 📸: Leon Bennett/Getty Images for Lionsgate

This billionaire could be California’s next governor — and he wants to arrest Stephen Miller

Billionaire and California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer tells Vox’s Zack Beauchamp that to protect democracy, political leaders have to stand up for Americans and their freedoms. “You think you're getting out of an authoritarian crisis without standing up for something?” Read more of their interview at the link in our bio.

The sad, ugly debate behind the new Michael Jackson biopic

When the Trump administration began dismantling US foreign aid in January 2025, many global health experts feared that the consequences would be catastrophic, with models projecting thousands of deaths as a direct consequence of the cuts. It has now been more than a year since that upheaval began, and we finally have official data on what it did to PEPFAR, one of the biggest and most successful US-funded HIV programs in the world. At first glance, the numbers offer some relief. The US still delivered HIV treatment, in the form of antiretroviral drugs, to about 20 million people from July through September 2025, the only period for which the administration has released data. That was roughly the same number of people receiving treatment as in the same period a year earlier. But other numbers tell a different and less positive story. A closer look at the data suggests that PEPFAR was far less successful at doing the rest of the work that keeps HIV from spreading: finding people who don’t yet know they’re positive, and stopping new infections before they happen. The data shows that fewer people were tested for HIV, fewer people newly started treatment, and far fewer started or stayed on PrEP, the drugs that help prevent infection in the first place. Read more at the link in our bio.

What haunts America’s animal shelter workers

As animal shelters in the US become overcrowded, it’s not just the pets that suffer. Animal control and animal shelter workers bear an enormous amount of stress, collectively euthanizing about 600,000 animals each year. Vox’s Kenny Torrella explains how you can help.

Has Lena Dunham changed? Have we?

Lena Dunham, the subject of a thousand 2010s think pieces about whether or not she is problematic, has re-emerged from behind the curtain with her new memoir, Famesick. But this time around, the think pieces look different. Some of them are mea culpas addressed to Dunham. “We owe Lena Dunham an apology,” declared Rachel Simon in a story for MS Now. The apology came with a caveat: “Dunham is, and always has been, a flawed figure. But she never deserved our hatred, nor the expectations placed on her to get everything right.” With Dunham’s redemption cycle, we’re performing a sped-up version of the discourse cycle that saw the public reexamining the misogynistic witch hunts of Monica Lewinsky, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, et al. in the 1990s and 2000s. It’s become clear, with the distance of 20 years, that the gossip press of the 2000s was driven primarily by misogyny, occasionally dressed up as concern trolling. Now, the oft-unspoken villain is cancel culture, the slew of social media shaming and chiding that became such a virulent force at the same time that Dunham was coming up in the 2010s. Apologizing to Dunham becomes a way of apologizing for and repudiating cancel culture, making the case that we are no longer in the cancel culture moment. Read more at the link in our bio. 📸: Aeon/GC Images via Getty Images, Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images, and Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM

You might not be as good of a friend as you think you are

Have you ever asked yourself: Am I someone I’d want to be friends with? It’s an important question that may reveal if you aren’t showing up for your friends in the way you want them to show up for you. Aka, it’ll help you find out if you’re a bad friend. But don’t worry, Vox’s Allie Volpe has advice on how to course correct. Read her full article at the link in our bio. #Friendship #Friends #FriendshipTips #BadFriends

Renewable energy just broke a 100-year-old streak

For more than a century, the world has run on coal. When Thomas Edison’s Pearl Street electrical station in Lower Manhattan fired up in 1882, it ran on coal. Coal survived the oil era, the nuclear era, the dash for natural gas, and decades of back-and-forth climate policy. From the 1970s through the mid-2010s, coal supplied somewhere between 35 and 40% of the planet’s electricity, a steady if sooty presence powering modern life. Then last year, it lost the lead. As coal has declined, solar power has increased. For 21 years running, solar has been the fastest-growing source of electricity on the planet. In 2025 it surpassed wind for the first time, and is now on pace to pass nuclear this year. Find out more at the link in our bio and sign up for Vox’s Good News newsletter for more stories like these.

These animals can cause big trouble. Why are states unleashing them by the millions?

We drop fish out of planes. Well, sometimes. It’s a process called “fish stocking,” where US states breed fish with the purpose of releasing them into rivers and lakes to then be caught by fishers. And when those lakes are up in the mountains, it can take a plane or a helicopter to get the live fish to the water. But in many cases, these very lakes never had any fish in them to begin with. And adding these non-native fish can have ripple effects on the entire ecosystem. Read more of Benji Jones’ article on non-native fish stocking at the link in our bio

Should you feel guilty for killing the bugs in your house?

When you kill the bugs that crawl their way into your home, should you feel guilty? 🐜🐞🕷️ Here’s what Sigal Samuel, the writer of Vox’s advice column Your Mileage May Vary, has to say: “I love that you’re sensitive to the potential suffering of Earth’s teeny-tiny, creepy-crawly creatures. I hope you never lose that. But I do hope you lose the guilt you’re feeling,” she writes. “But the key thing to realize is this: Bugs may have some kind of sentience, and sentience may confer some moral status, but that doesn’t mean that provides the last word on how we should act toward them. Just because another creature might have moral weight, that doesn’t necessarily tell you how to treat that creature when its welfare conflicts with the welfare of a creature you know has moral weight: you.” Read her column at the link in our bio. 🎨: Pete Gamlen for Vox

What we know about the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

The most shocking thing about the attempted attack on the White House Correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night at the Washington Hilton was how not shocking it was. Even before an armed man attempted to breach the secured area outside the hotel’s ballroom, the event’s guest list was a grim self-portrait of political violence in America. President Donald Trump, who survived two attempts on his life during the 2024 campaign, was evacuated by Secret Service agents. Erika Kirk, whose husband Charlie Kirk was killed just months ago at a campus event in Utah, was rushed out in tears. Republican Rep. Steve Scalise was shot by a left-wing gunman at a Congressional baseball practice. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, whose network was targeted in 2018 by a serial bomber who went after Trump critics, was near the gunman when the shooting began and provided some of the first eyewitness reporting. That’s only the recent history. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose father and uncle were each assassinated in the 1960s, was also in the room. And this year’s dinner was held at the same hotel where Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. Locals still often refer to it as “The Hinckley Hilton,” a reference to Reagan’s attacker. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt this time, but the incident has again rattled the American political scene, where people know from experience just how much worse it could have been. Read more about what happened at the link in our bio. 📸: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images, Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images and Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

You might not be as good of a friend as you think you are

People say friendship is important, but our actions often don’t reflect that. We want friends to show up for us, but cancel on them without much thought. We crave connection, but only when it fits our timing, mood, and preferences. Otherwise, just staying in feels easier. Social media and always-available AI chatbots that never tire of hearing about your life can also shape how we see relationships, putting us at the center and making connection feel effortless. But while you are the main character in your own life, you are not the center of your friends’ worlds. Research shows selfishness is one of the biggest reasons friendships end. Selflessness doesn’t mean people pleasing or being a doormat; it’s more about considering how you can enrich your friends’ lives to harbor goodwill. And it involves looking at what you bring to the table instead of only thinking about what your friends can offer you. Read the full story at the link in bio. 🎨: Denis Novikov/Getty Images

The real problem with Hasan Piker

Hasan Piker is one of the most influential left-wing commentators in America, an increasingly popular surrogate for progressive candidates, and a flashpoint in the Democratic Party’s internal debates over Israel and “platforming.” Critics see him as “hateful” and “antisemitic” and want Democrats to shun him; supporters see him as a sharp critic of US foreign policy and Israeli actions. But as senior correspondent Eric Levitz writes, the bigger issue may be his underlying worldview, rather than his takes on Israel. He has a tendency toward “campism,” a leftist perspective rooted in the Cold War that judges countries “more by their hostility toward the West than by their adherence to progressive values.” He’s a vocal admirer of China’s communist regime, rationalized Russia’s invasion of Ukrainian territory, and has defended terrorist groups who rule through violence. As Levitz puts it, his commentary is “often just as ethically rudderless as what it claims to oppose.” The concern is less about one creator and more about a broader tendency in politics. When movements excuse their allies’ actions because their opponents are worse, they risk losing moral consistency and credibility. Read the full story at the link in our bio. 📸: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile via Getty Images

Why America’s HIV epidemic hasn’t ended

It’s technically easier to avoid getting HIV in the US today than it ever has been. For people who are HIV negative, a once-daily PrEP pill can prevent infection during sex with someone who is HIV positive no less than 99 percent of the time. And getting on PrEP, which was approved by the FDA in 2012, should be about as seamless as getting on birth control, another daily pill prescribed for sexual health. In both cases, side effects are minimal and rare, and the costs are covered by most insurance plans. But despite all that, only about one-third of people at risk of HIV in the US currently take PrEP. Why? Most Americans don’t even know about PrEP in the first place, while less than half of physicians feel knowledgeable enough to prescribe it. Additionally, people still often struggle with stigma from their communities and even from their health care providers. Learn more at the link in our bio. 🎨: Xinmei Liu for Vox

What happens when a tradwife has to put her money where her mouth is

⚠️ SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️ Yesteryear, the buzzy new novel by Caro Claire Burke, has an incredible premise. A modern-day tradwife travels back in time to 1855, forcing her to reckon with the realities of the lifestyle she touts on social media. While a great read, Vox’s book critic Constance Grady explains why the ending leaves more to be desired. #Yesteryear #Tradwives #Tradwife #BookReview

Nobody is laughing at Donald Trump anymore

President Donald Trump’s first term featured plenty of people freaking out over his day-to-day pronouncements. But a large amount of abnormal rhetoric or reported behind-the-scenes behavior was also waved aside as hot air, or exaggeration, or dark humor for supporters who were in on the gag. That’s much harder this time, when there’s frequently the force of government behind them, something the media members in attendance for Trump’s speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday understand all too well. Read more at the link in our bio. 📸: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Please don’t inject yourself with bootleg peptides

Peptides seem to be everywhere — and there are more on the way. Adherents promise these tiny chains of amino acids can help you lose weight, keep your skin clear, and slow down the aging process. While a person who really wants to acquire peptides right now can do so fairly easily, they are not, strictly speaking, legal — which might be why a peptide “club” with a 300-person waitlist has popped up in San Francisco. But access could soon expand: Peptides have support from the nation’s wellness influencer-in-chief, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Food and Drug Administration is expected to relax restrictions for a dozen peptides. “Peptide” is maybe the buzziest word in health care right now — but, as usual, the social media mania masks a much more complicated scientific reality. Peptides are not inherently bad, but not all of the peptides being hawked by wellness influencers are the same. Find out what you should know at the link in our bio. 🎨: Paige Vickers/Vox; Getty Images

The next global Trump ally to fall?

It’s no secret that Americans generally are not fans of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s government has put cronies in charge of Israel’s security services, demonized the Arab minority, persecuted left-wing activists, and pushed legislation that would put the judiciary under his control. He is currently on trial for corruption — with the most serious charges stemming from a scheme to trade regulatory favors for favorable news coverage from a major Israeli outlet. President Donald Trump is actively pushing Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who holds a more ceremonial position, to grant him a pardon. Netanyahu’s tactics come directly from the playbook the now-defeated Viktor Orbán used to hold power in Hungary for nearly 20 years — and the two leaders know each other well. So much like in the United States, Orbán’s Hungary has become a major part of Israeli public discourse: a boogeyman for the center-left and an aspirational model for the Netanyahu-aligned right. At present, Israelis expect a similar outcome to what happened to Orbán in Hungary. Polls consistently show that Netanyahu, who has been prime minister for all but one year since 2009, would lose his governing majority if elections were held now — and they’re required to take place no later than October. If these trends hold, then there is a real chance that he will be the next leader in the Trump-aligned far-right international to fall. Read more at the link in our bio. 📸: Joe Raedle/Getty Images & Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Why are states unleashing millions of these fish?

Every year, federal and state wildlife agencies in the US breed millions of fish and release them into the wild, all for fishers to catch. To see some fish stocking in action and learn more about the process, Vox producer @krieger_nate went on a fish stocking run with employees of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. In just under an hour, they released 675 live trout into the Mianus River for the recreation of local fishermen. But introducing non-native fish can wreak havoc on an ecosystem. So why are state wildlife agencies doing it by the million? This video examines the strange paradox that incentivizes states to do something that, at least in some cases, hurts the very ecosystem they're trying to conserve.

The Supreme Court will decide if migrants can be sent back to war zones

Imagine you’re on vacation in New York when war breaks out back home. Suddenly, returning could mean facing violence — or worse — but your visa is about to expire. That’s where Temporary Protected Status (TPS) comes in: a humanitarian policy that allows people already in the US to stay and work if their home country becomes unsafe due to conflict, disaster, or crisis. It’s not permanent, and it comes with strict eligibility rules, but for many, it’s a lifeline in impossible circumstances. Now, that lifeline is under threat. The Trump administration has moved to end TPS protections for multiple countries, sparking major legal battles headed to the Supreme Court. Cases involving Syria and Haiti could determine whether thousands are forced to return to unstable, dangerous conditions. Even if courts only delay these decisions on procedural grounds, that time matters — because for TPS holders, every extra day in the US can mean safety, stability, and survival. Find out more at the link in our bio. 📸: People attend a funeral ceremony for a policeman at the Notre-Dame du Perpetuel Secours church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 7, 2025. Guerinault Louis/Anadolu via Getty Images

What happens when a tradwife has to put her money where her mouth is

Yesteryear, the buzzy new debut novel by Caro Claire Burke, has the kind of premise it’s hard to look away from: a tradwife influencer named Natalie — a Harvard dropout who married rich at 20 — wakes up in 1855. Gone are her tastefully discrete appliances, her prized collection of luxury sweaters, her team of nannies and farm workers. In their place: an outhouse, stained homespun prairie dresses, and hours of back-breaking labor spent washing a single load of laundry with homemade lye soap. At long last, one of those perniciously appealing traditional housewife influencers — the type who’s always posting videos of herself baking bread in a sun-drenched kitchen while her adorable children romp next to her — has been forced to put her money where her mouth is. Surely now, you think, she’ll have to admit that the modern era has some things going for it. Yesteryear is a book animated by this kind of rage, by a palpable fury at the archetype of the tradwife. That’s what makes the premise so irresistible — irresistible enough to have garnered breathless review coverage, for Anne Hathaway to sign on to produce and star in the movie after a vicious four-studio bidding war. “But where the book begins to falter is when it tries to suggest that tradwives are just as angry with themselves as feminists are,” Vox’s Constance Grady writes. Read more about what Constance has to say about the book at the link in our bio. 🎨: Paige Vickers/Vox; Getty Images

The best thing you can do for the planet on Earth Day

Meat and dairy production is wreaking havoc on our environment as a leading cause of global deforestation and habitat loss. Want to help this Earth Day? Start by eating a more plant-based diet. Vox’s Kenny Torrella explains why it makes a difference. #EarthDay #PlantProtein #PlantBasedDiet #ClimateChange

Virginia voters just handed Democrats another win in the Great Redistricting Wars

Voters have once again handed President Donald Trump a loss in one of the defining fights of his second administration: the national congressional redistricting race. Tuesday night, Virginia approved a ballot measure to redraw its 11 congressional districts, giving Democrats an edge and boosting their chances of flipping the House this fall. Redistricting usually happens once a decade after the census, but that norm is shifting. After Trump pushed Texas Republicans to redraw maps early to protect their slim majority, Democrats in states like California and now Virginia responded with their own mid-decade changes. Virginia’s vote was especially complicated in a swingy state with a recent Republican governor, and the campaign was marked by confusing messaging and concerns about a partisan power grab. Rural areas turned out heavily and leaned against it, but strong support from urban centers like Richmond, Virginia Beach, and Northern Virginia helped push the measure to a statewide win. While the “Yes” victory in Virginia is another major win for Democrats nationwide, the results of the 2026 redistricting wars have been more haphazard. Across the country, political infighting, reluctant legislators, and timing constraints have headed off other redistricting efforts on both sides of the aisle. Now time is running out for any additional efforts: Primaries are already beginning across the country, and election preparation has to begin soon in those that haven’t started yet. Read the story at the link in bio. 📸: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The war in Iran isn’t ending — it’s becoming something new

Are the US and Iran on the verge of a full peace agreement — or a return to all-out war? On the one hand, President Donald Trump has told multiple reporters in recent days that Iran has effectively agreed to all US conditions and that talks are going well, with Vice President JD Vance set to land in Pakistan for more this week. On the other hand, after briefly declaring it reopened last week, Iran once again declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, firing on ships transiting the waterway over the weekend, and the US continues to maintain a partial blockade on Iranian ports, seizing an Iranian vessel on Sunday. It’s unclear if Iranian negotiators will even be there to meet Vance in Islamabad. There may also be a third option: The current status quo — definitely not peace, but not quite a return to war either — could simply continue for the time being. At the moment, that’s an outcome that both the US and Iran would probably prefer over making what each would view as a humiliating compromise. But the costs of that state of affairs continue to grow every day that the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and the region remains under the threat of a return to war. In some ways, the dynamic is not all that different from what it was throughout the weeks of the US-Israeli bombing campaign: a competition to see which side can endure pain the longest. The difference in this new phase of the war is that when it stops is now primarily Iran’s decision. Read more at the link in our bio. 📸: US Navy via Getty Images

Why millennials are feral for chicken Caesar wraps

The first thing you need to know about the chicken Caesar wrap is that it is, scientifically, delicious. 🤤 Dan Souza, chief content officer at America’s Test Kitchen and expert in the unfathomably expansive subjects of food and taste, says the wrap (and the salad it is adapted from) can be a truly fantastic bite of food. Romaine and croutons are crispy and crunchy, two extremely desirable textures. Its dressing is liquid umami; there’s a distinct savory flavor hiding in the filets of anchovies and within the tiny crystals of Parmesan. Lemon juice adds acidity, and olive oil and egg yolk impart fat. Rich and delicate, buttery and tangy, salty and bright — these are all combinations that spark attention in human tastebuds. The second thing you need to know is that people have strong feelings about the beloved CCW, and they’re not afraid to tell you about them. Find out more about this uniquely millennial obsession at the link in our bio. 🎨: Paige Vickers/Vox; Getty Images

How Americans really feel about immigration

"I don't often recognize the Arizona that's spoken about nationally." Yana Kunichoff, a reporter for Arizona Luminaria, breaks down the gap between how the national media portrays her state and what it actually feels like to live and work there to Vox's Astead Herndon. Listen to the full interview wherever you get your podcasts, or watch it on YouTube.

Is “time confetti” ruining parenthood?

The idea that you need to save up a certain amount of money before having kids is so common it can feel almost like a moral law. But while we may not have to guarantee kids a certain amount of money, what about guaranteeing them a certain amount of our time? “What if you don’t see it as your goal to guarantee your kids’ happiness? What if instead the goal is to show them love and build their capacity to love others?” Sigal Samuel writes in her column Your Mileage May Vary. “In that case, quantity of hours will matter much less than — you guessed it — quality.” Read more of what Samuel has to say at the link in our bio. 🎨: Pete Gamlen for Vox

How to ask for help when you’re really going through it

Asking for help can be tremendously difficult. Doing so puts you in a vulnerable position that can stir up intense feelings of failure and shame, especially in a place like the US, where social norms emphasize independence. However, depending on others doesn’t need to be so daunting. Here’s a quick guide to not shrinking inside yourself next time you need something from someone: - Remember that people like helping. Think about how good it feels when you show up for someone else. That’s likely how they feel helping you, too. - Make a list of the tasks you need help with. The more specific you are, the easier it is for others to step in - Match the task to the person. Play to people’s strengths and what they enjoy doing. - Consider a “help advocate.” If asking directly feels hard, have someone you trust coordinate support for you. - Know your limits and pay attention to when you’re overwhelmed and set cues for when it’s time to reach out. -Zoom out. Support isn’t transactional. It’s part of how strong relationships and communities work. Asking for help may never come naturally, but it also doesn’t have to be the most hellish thing you do when you’re already down and out. The story is at the link in bio. 🎨: Getty Images/Dorling Kindersley

8 ways to zone out and relax that don’t involve being on your phone

The next time you need to decompress, challenge yourself not to reach for your phone. The goal is to use your downtime to feel relaxed, said a psychotherapist, not numb or further drained. In our always-on society, it’s easy to forget your brain needs a break from cognitively draining activities, including fun ones. But letting your mind rest is crucial — doing so reduces fatigue, replenishes your energy, and helps you learn and perform more efficiently later on. Next time you want to completely veg out, try these options instead of doomscrolling. Find out more at the link in our bio.

Live Nation lost in court. Here’s what it means for concerts.

Live Nation will have to face the antitrust music, a federal jury in New York ruled this week, declaring that America’s preeminent concert middleman is an illegal monopoly. This was not news to those of us who’ve attended a concert in the past, oh, dozen years. The verdict is an important recognition, however, that all is not well on America’s concert scene. Find out what it means at the link in our bio. 📸: Mario Tama/Getty Images

What to know about the Israel-Lebanon conflict

After six weeks of fighting, Israel and Lebanon appear to be on the verge of a ceasefire. President Donald Trump announced the 10-day pause, which he said would help “achieve PEACE” between the countries, in a social media post on Thursday. The ceasefire is set to take effect at 5 pm ET. The agreement came after representatives of Israel and Lebanon met in Washington, DC, earlier this week for their first direct talks in decades, and amid the backdrop of an ongoing US-Iran ceasefire. The most recent round of fighting began early last month, two days after the initial US and Israeli attacks on Iran, when the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah attacked a village in northern Israel. Israel quickly retaliated, firing missiles and destroying homes in a war that has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced more than 1.2 million Lebanese. In the process, Israel has occupied about 15 percent of Lebanon’s territory; it says it expects to maintain that “buffer zone” until Hezbollah is disarmed, which could take years. Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israeli troops would remain in southern Lebanon. Nora Boustany, who reported from Lebanon and across the Middle East for the Washington Post for nearly three decades and now lives in Beirut, says that the greatest fear inside the country is that Israel’s occupation will continue. “Lebanon is small,” Boustany told Today, Explained co-host Sean Rameswaram. “It can be swallowed in two weeks, and it’s pretty defenseless at the moment.” Read more at the link in our bio or listen wherever you get your podcasts. 📸: Adri Salido/Getty Images

The alcohol crisis quietly hitting high-stress, “high-status” workers

In the hit HBO show The Pitt, which follows a city emergency department, a major storyline of the second season is one doctor trying to get back to work after substance treatment. ⚠️SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️ At the end of The Pitt’s first season, we learn that Dr. Frank Langdon has been sneaking medications from the hospital supply and using them himself. It’s a shocking moment: Up until this point, he’s been the most reliable right hand for the protagonist, Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch. Dr. Langdon has been a valuable mentor to some of the medical residents who make up much of the rest of the show’s cast — and clashed with at least one, Trinity Santos, whose abrasive personality had turned some audience members against her. Nobody questions Dr. Langdon, because he seems to be on top of his game. And the show’s lessons about substance use start there: Somebody can be highly effective at work while still living with addiction. That makes even identifying the problem particularly challenging within the medical field. They may also believe that they can continue to meet the high standards of their job despite misusing alcohol or other drugs. “It is very difficult to treat a physician. Physicians just, in general, have a lot of ego,” Dr. Jason Kirby, chief medical officer at Recovery Centers of America, said. “A lot of the treatment of anybody with substance use disorders, you have to break down that cognitive distortion. You break down that ego. And it can be very difficult for physicians to get to that point.” As Kirby told Vox’s Dylan Scott, most doctors who go into rehab are directed there because of an issue raised by a colleague, or superior, or patient. They don’t tend to seek out treatment themselves until the issue is forced upon them. Read more about how even though alcohol use has hit historic lows in the US, there are still pockets of the population that suffer from disproportionately high rates of alcohol misuse at the link in our bio. 📸: Dr. Frank Langdon of HBO’s The Pitt treats a patient in the second season, the finale of which airs on Thursday. Courtesy of HBO

Donald Trump messed with the wrong pope

The battle between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV continues. On Tuesday night, Vice President JD Vance — who converted to Catholicism in 2019 — accused Pope Leo XIV of not understanding the Church’s stance on war, saying it was “very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.” But Leo held his stance and wasn’t afraid to take some jabs at the president, calling the name of his Truth Social platform “ironic.” This isn’t the White House’s first run-in with a pope. Trump, and sometimes Vance, were in a long-running conflict with Pope Francis going all the way back to the 2016 Republican presidential primary, when Francis indirectly suggested that Trump “was not a Christian,” because of his focus on “building walls…and not bridges.” Back then, even Trump’s fellow GOP primary contenders, including Catholics like then-Sen. Marco Rubio, backed him up. As a result, Trump might be surprised by how much stronger the backlash is this time. Read more about why Leo is a feistier opponent than the administration might have expected at the link in our bio. 📸: Guglielmo Mangiapane/AFP via Getty Images

The tax code rewards generosity. But probably not yours.

If you’ve been staring at your tax bill and wondering how to keep more of your money, money, money to yourself next year, you might consider taking a page out of the billionaire’s playbook. 💵 You could be like Steve Ballmer and write off the costs of buying a sports team or make like Mark Zuckerberg and dial down your salary to just $1 per year. Or, if those things seem daunting, you might just donate to charity instead. Every year, the US Treasury loses upward of $65 billion in revenue — enough money to pay for a national universal pre-K program by one count — to charitable deductions. But while Americans of all income levels give back, it’s the richest Americans who have reaped almost all of the benefits on their tax bill. Read more at the link in our bio.

What trainers actually think about the 12-3-30 workout

When it comes to exercise, so many people — beginners, die-hard enthusiasts, reluctant participants, and everyone in between — are searching for holy grails: workouts that involve the least amount of time and effort and offer maximum results. Enter: 12-3-30. While effectiveness and consistency are crucial components, perhaps the biggest factor when it comes to the treadmill workout’s popularity is that it’s easy to sell and remember (12 incline, 3 speed, 30 minutes). “12-3-30 — it’s like the $5 footlong,” Bobby McMullen, a personal trainer and founder of the fitness app Adonis, told Vox. McMullen pointed out that workouts like P90X and Hard 75 become immensely popular in part because of how they’re packaged. It turns out that some people enjoy when their workouts, like their sandwiches, feature a numerical identifier. Branding matters, in part because partaking in the hot, number-named workout that everyone else is posting about can be a form of motivation. “It sticks with you, so you know exactly what to do,” McMullen said. “You press a few buttons, you don’t change it for 30 minutes. It’s just a very catchy viral workout.” Read more at the link in our bio.

Hope vs. optimism, explained

When the world is on fire, it’s difficult to stay hopeful. But our future depends on it. Host @jonquilynhill talks with experts about how we maintain optimism in the latest episode of the Explain It to Me podcast. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.