Today, Explained

The largest-known ransomware attack on American energy infrastructure is driving up gas prices and creating shortages. Wired's Lily Hay Newman says Colonial Pipeline might be a turning point for cybersecurity.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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A push to remove Cheney from her House leadership position shows how Trump, marooned at Mar-a-Lago without Twitter, continues to hold sway in the GOP.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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There’s no vaccine for Covid-19 anxiety. Nor is there one for those who aren’t ready to “go back to normal.” But, as Vox’s Sigal Samuel explains, there is hope.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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President Joe Biden heeded calls from low-income countries to try to relax patents on Covid-19 vaccines so they can make cheaper generic versions. Big Pharma was furious.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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One of the world's biggest video games is suing one of the world's biggest tech companies. The Wall Street Journal's Tim Higgins explains how the fight might fundamentally change your phone.

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That’s President Joe Biden’s new vaccination goal, and he’s got some fresh ideas on how to get there. Vox’s German Lopez explains.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Congress wants to change how the military prosecutes sex crimes. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand explains her bill.

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Is it a bubble? Is it going to pop? Do you need to bid over asking? Has it already sold? Are there any houses left? Will you ever find one? Vox’s Jerusalem Demsas explains.

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An estimated 10 percent of people who test positive for Covid-19 experience long-haul symptoms. Vox’s Julia Belluz joins the Unexplainable podcast to sort out what’s known and what remains mysterious about long Covid.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Biden’s biographer, Evan Osnos, explains why the president is a weather vane for the Democratic Party.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Apple updated its software and Facebook was very upset. Recode’s Sara Morrison and Peter Kafka explain. Roller derby is involved.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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President Biden is cranking the pressure on President Putin, but it was Russian dissident Alexei Navalny who scored a victory by refusing his prison food.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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The world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer ended up with the world’s worst Covid-19 surge. Neha Arora, New Delhi correspondent for Reuters, explains.

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Or at least 30 percent of it.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Listen to the Atlantic’s Robinson Meyer explain the arguments and then decide for yourself.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Norway has lapped the world in adopting electric vehicles. Vox’s Umair Irfan explains how the US might catch up.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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In 2019, David Wallace-Wells wrote a book called The Uninhabitable Earth. Just two years later, he’s feeling hopeful — thanks to the world’s biggest polluters.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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And other items from the lunch menu of 2050.

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Arguments in the trial of Derek Chauvin have wrapped after a brutal week for policing in America. Minnesota Public Radio’s Jon Collins shares his reporting from Minneapolis.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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The recent police crackdown on a tent camp in Los Angeles has left the city divided. One thing everyone agrees on is the dire need for lasting solutions to the growing homelessness crisis in the United States.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Vox’s Andrew Prokop explains Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz’s sex scandal.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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The US government is calling for an immediate pause in Johnson & Johnson vaccinations after six recipients (out of millions) developed blood clots. ProPublica’s Caroline Chen explains. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Recode’s Rebecca Heilweil explains how proving you got the shot became controversial. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Or maybe, after listening to this episode, it’ll be more like CICADAPALOOZA!

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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One of the biggest pop stars in the world is rerecording her first six albums at the artistic peak of her career. The Atlantic’s Shirley Li explains Swift’s gambit to reclaim her catalog.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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A group of students in Topeka, Kansas, discovered their high school was named after an exalted cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan. Then they tried to change it.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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On Monday night, the Senate parliamentarian gave Democrats an unprecedented blessing. Vox’s Ella Nilsen and Li Zhou explain what they might do with it.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Major League Baseball, Delta, and Coke are calling out Georgia for its new voting reforms, but some of these corporations were involved in crafting the legislation. WABE’s Emma Hurt explains.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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We asked if you still had vaccine questions, and you did. We found answers. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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New York is the latest state to legalize recreational marijuana, but President Joe Biden won’t budge. This means that it’s possible to become a billionaire or a convicted felon for selling weed in the US.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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It’s infrastructure week in America. President Joe Biden unveiled a plan to spend trillions on bridges, roads, housing, and clean energy to prove it. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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More than half of US states are working to ban, or even criminalize, trans athletes playing sports. Vox contributor Katelyn Burns explains how conservative politicians came to care so much about women’s sports.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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After six days, a very big boat is finally afloat. While stuck, it brought international trade through the Suez Canal to a halt and cost companies billions of dollars.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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When a Swedish American pastor refused to get a smallpox vaccine in 1902, he ended up in the United States Supreme Court. The Atlantic’s new podcast The Experiment tells the story of Pastor Henning Jacobson.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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With Democrats in charge, there is a lot of talk about big ideas for the country, including … banning menthol cigarettes? Politico’s Sarah Owermohle explains why Black lawmakers are split over whether a ban would help or hurt Black communities.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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The Trace’s Jennifer Mascia explains why two gun reform bills the House recently passed are likely to fail in the Senate. Patrick Blanchfield from the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research argues the American gun control debate is a big part of the problem.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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On Monday, a tweet sold for $2.9 million. That followed a JPEG that went for $69 million. The Verge’s Liz Lopatto explains how internet ephemera turned to gold.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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The United States and China met in Anchorage, Alaska, on Thursday to air grievances, and the cameras were rolling. Vox’s Alex Ward explains how the meeting set the stage for one of the world’s biggest rivalries.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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People want to move on from Covid-19, but that doesn’t mean forgetting its victims. Historian Paul Farber and Vox reporter Alissa Wilkinson explain why a memorial could help us all heal and find accountability.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Eight people were killed in shootings at three Atlanta-area spas. Most of the victims were women. Six were Asian American. Georgia state Sen. Michelle Au explains how her community is coping, and author Kate Manne explores the intersection of racism and misogyny. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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A growing number of unaccompanied minors at the US-Mexico border is highlighting President Biden’s struggle to fulfill his campaign promises on immigration — as well as the difficult path to comprehensive immigration reform.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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It’s a question the US has struggled with since its founding.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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President Biden says all adults will be eligible for a vaccine by May 1. But for the world to truly return to normal, young people will need shots, too. ProPublica’s Caroline Chen explains how, and when, that might happen.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Believe it or not, scientists still don’t know how the sense of smell works. But that isn’t stopping one guy at MIT from trying to reverse-engineer it. Sounds like a job for Vox’s new podcast, Unexplainable.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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The year in revue.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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President Biden’s American Rescue Plan has been approved by Congress. It’s a revolution in American welfare disguised as stimulus.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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New guidelines from the CDC for fully vaccinated people suggest it’s finally time to hug your grandparents. Dr. Kavita Patel explains the do’s and don’ts as we inch back towards “normal” life.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Darryl Richardson, a worker at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, explains why he helped initiate a unionization effort that now has President Biden’s support. Recode’s Jason Del Rey explains how the Bessemer vote could be a game changer for American labor.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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Beset by controversy, The Bachelor’s latest season is winding down with an identity crisis. It’s a rare case of reality TV reflecting our cultural reality.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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The United States is stumbling through two racial reckonings at once. Author Jeff Chang says it’s an inflection point centuries in the making.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.

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