What’s going on with all those layoffs in the gaming industry? What does being “middle class” actually mean? What’s up with this weird thing that happens when I sleep? Life is full of questions: simple ones with complicated answers and complicated ones with simple answers hiding in plain sight. Explain It to Me is here to answer the ones that matter most to you. We’re your go-to hotline for all the questions you can’t quite answer on your own. Call 1-800-618-8545 or send a voice memo to askvox@v...
Feb 05, 2025•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Should I give up flying for the environment’s sake? Is it ethical to stay on Twitter and Facebook if I don’t like the owners’ politics? If a DNA test shows that my dad isn't my biological dad, should I tell him? There are no bad questions. But there are some that are really hard to answer. Those are the ones Vox senior reporter Sigal Samuel likes to tackle. This week on Explain It to Me, she tells host Jonquilyn Hill how she goes about answering your ethical and philosophical questions in her co...
Jan 29, 2025•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast After seeing someone make an illegal left turn, Mike joked to his daughter that they should do a citizen’s arrest. She had no idea what he was talking about, and now Mike wants to know: wait, are citizen’s arrests actually a real-life thing, or just something he saw on TV? And if they are real, how do they work? And what do they say about crime and policing in our country? This week on Explain It to Me, host Jonquilyn Hill talks to Stanford Law School professor David Sklansky to find out. He’s t...
Jan 22, 2025•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast When it gets cold outside, we get colds inside. We also get the flu. And RSV. And — lately — norovirus. We all know that washing our hands helps defend against illness. But with what? There’s too many kinds of soap, and not all of them will keep you healthy in every situation. Should you up the ante with antibacterial or does bar soap set the bar? This week on Explain It to Me, host Jonquilyn Hill breaks down the suds and bubbles with Vox senior reporter Keren Landman, MD. Read more: Wait, shoul...
Jan 08, 2025•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Cuffing season. Or is it? That’s the question Antares asked this week. She told her lovelorn friend he’ll have better luck on dating apps once the temperatures drop, but then she wondered… is that actually true? This week on Explain It to Me, host Jonquilyn Hill goes on a journey to find out if Cuffing Season is real. She speaks with artist Musa Murchison, Alison Gemmill of the Hopkins Population Center, Michael Kaye of OKCupid, and Devyn Simone of Tinde...
Dec 18, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Are hush puppies racist? Why do we celebrate weddings with a multi-tiered, super fancy, sometimes not particularly tasty, very expensive cake? Can a dairy-intolerant person actually drink a glass of A2 milk? These three questions came from listeners. Just not our listeners. They came to Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley, hosts of Gastropod, a show that investigates the history and science behind the foods we eat. Our host Jonquilyn Hill called them up to ask about the show, and play an episode f...
Dec 11, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Adulthood comes with a lot of perks: You can set your own bedtime or eat candy for breakfast. But there is at least one thing that’s easier to do as a kid: making friends. That’s why Claire called us this week — she’s moved to a new city and wants to know: How do adults make new friends? Jonquilyn Hill chats with Vox senior reporters Allie Volpe and Keren Landman, MD, who share some tools to break the ice and find friends who align with where you are in life right now. And now it’s your turn. Af...
Dec 04, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Earlier this month, millions of voters got to pick a president: Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. But what if we had a totally different kind of election system, one where you could rank a bunch of people you’d like as president, instead of being forced to choose between just two viable options? Listener William wants to know: Why hasn’t ranked-choice voting taken off? And could it be the fix for our super polarized politics? Jonquilyn Hill goes to Vox senior correspondent Dylan Matthews for some l...
Nov 20, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listener Piper called us up with this question, “Why do some people have a harder time than others distinguishing their left and right?” When our friends at the Vox podcast Unexplainable heard it they were so intrigued that they created a whole game show around it and invited our very own Explain It to Me host Jonquilyn Hill to play along. Why do some people struggle to tell their left from their right? What makes someone a lefty? And why does life have this weird rule about only having either l...
Nov 13, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Wow, what a week. The country has a new president-elect, and our listeners have a ton of questions about what comes next. Why did Latino voters swing right? How will Democrats respond? What’s going to happen to Donald Trump’s court cases? Will Trump really do all the things he said he would during the campaign? Host Jonquilyn Hill sits down with Vox correspondents Christian Paz, Ian Millhiser, and Zack Beauchamp to answer all that and more. Submit your questions — about politics, or, if you need...
Nov 08, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast The US elections are officially upon us. And we have the Vox newsroom standing by to answer your questions and reflect on your experiences. All you have to do is ask! Leave a voicemail at 1-800-618-8545 or send a voice memo to askvox@vox.com and check back here Friday morning for our election special. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nov 04, 2024•1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listener Sommer calls in to ask why she can buy foods in her grocery store that other countries have banned. Trying to figure out what all the chemicals and dyes in her food might do to her has left her with one question: “Don’t you care about us?” This week on Explain It to Me, host Jonquilyn Hill gets some answers (and a scary story about orange dye!) from Vox producer Kimberly Mas and the Environmental Working Group’s Melanie Benesh. Election Day is less than a week away. To commiserate, we’r...
Oct 30, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast “We are hitting the PANIC button.” Does that wording sound familiar? You’ve probably seen it on your phone. This week on Explain It to Me, we begin to answer the questions we’ve gotten from you about the election, like why you’re getting so many urgently phrased texts asking for money. We also take a closer look at polling. Host Jonquilyn Hill gets answers from Vox senior politics reporter Christian Paz and Banter founder Lloyd Cotler. We want to help answer more of your election-related questio...
Oct 23, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast From the moment Carolina graduated from college and started her first real job, the financial advice came pouring in. It felt like everyone she knew was telling her to save for retirement. So Carolina wants to know: really? Maybe that advice was good for boomers, Gen X and millennials, but the world Carolina would be saving for seems like it’s on the brink of collapse. So should Gen Z do things differently? Vox editor Bryan Walsh tells us how close we might be to an extinction-level event, and V...
Oct 16, 2024•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listener Siobhan is very much in love. So in love that she and her boyfriend will probably walk down the aisle soon. But she’s also seen the marriages of older people in her life fall apart. As she considers embarking on this next step in life, she wants to know: Are younger generations less likely to get divorced than their parents? And what’s behind the shifting trends in matrimony? Host Jonquilyn Hill gets answers from author and historian Stephanie Coontz. Read More: Welcome to the Divorce I...
Oct 10, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Listener David runs 5K fundraisers for his local zoo. And he wants to know: Is he doing the right thing? Are zoos a bastion for conservation, educating the public about endangered species? Or are they nothing more than a prison for pandas, creating a troubling power dynamic between humans and other living creatures? Host Jonquilyn Hill gets into the ethics of zoos with Vox senior reporter Kenny Torrella. Read More: Zoos aren’t for animals. They’re for us. Vox.com’s new newsletter, Processing Mea...
Oct 02, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Much to the chagrin of English teachers everywhere, people use the word “like”…a lot. Listener Allison calls the hotline to ask why we talk the way that we do and if she can change her own speech. Host Jonquilyn Hill gets answers from sociolinguist Valerie Fridland and speech coach Rhonda Khan. Send us your questions! You can call us at 1-800-618-8545, email us at askvox@vox.com, or fill out this form. Credits: Jonquilyn Hill, host Sofi LaLonde, producer Cristian Ayala, engineer Carla Javier, su...
Sep 25, 2024•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Matt wants to know how to tell if he’s being scammed by his dentist. To find the answer, we open up the surprising history of dentistry, ask why it seems so different from internal medicine, and drill down on why dental insurance doesn’t really feel like insurance. Host Jonquilyn Hill talks with journalist Mary Otto and Dr. Lisa Simon, DMD, MD, to find the answers. We want to hear your questions. Call us at 1-800-618-8545, or email us at askvox@vox.com Extra reading: Teeth: The Story of Beauty, ...
Sep 18, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Life is complicated, and here at Vox, we love to explain it. Enter Explain It to Me: your go-to hotline for all the questions you can’t quite answer on your own. Give us a call, and we’ll do all the heavy lifting to get you the answers you need. Call 1-800-618-8545, send an email to askvox@vox.com, or submit a question here. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sep 08, 2024•3 min•Transcript available on Metacast We have some exciting news to share: There are some big changes coming to this feed, and we need your help with them! The Weeds as you know it is ending, but we’ll be back this fall with the same crew, some new artwork, and a new sound. We’ll be answering your burning questions — about politics, policy, and everything in between. So send us an email with your questions to askvox@vox.com or call us at 1-800-618-8545. Have a great summer! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/...
May 30, 2024•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you went to public school in America, you most likely got a serving of milk with your lunch. The National School Lunch Program has been in operation for decades, serving tens of millions of school-aged kids cow’s milk with their lunches. But it turns out, there’s more supply than demand: According to USDA findings in 2019, students threw away about 41 percent of the milk served in schools. So why do schools keep serving it? Today on The Weeds: Why the US government loves milk. Submit your pol...
May 29, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Pretty much everyone is unhappy with food delivery these days. Prices are rising for customers; workers are barely making minimum wage; and restaurants feel gauged by delivery apps. Today on The Weeds: how the gig economy turned sour, and how you can still order your favorite food without feeling guilty. Vox senior reporter Whizy Kim explains. Read More: Food delivery fees have soared. How much of it goes to workers? Submit your policy questions! We want to know what you’re curious about. Credit...
May 22, 2024•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Do you think crime is on the rise? You aren’t the only one. According to Gallup, over 75 percent of Americans think crime is up from last year. The crime rate, though, has actually been falling. So why do so many Americans think crime is getting worse? Vox policy correspondent Abdallah Fayyad joins Weeds host Jonquilyn Hill to discuss the disconnect and what the numbers tell us. Read More: Lawmakers are overreacting to crime The shoplifting scare might not have been real — but its effects are Th...
May 15, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week, the US Drug Enforcement Administration announced a move to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug, after the Biden administration requested a review in late 2022. For decades, cannabis has been classified as Schedule I alongside drugs like heroin and LSD—and research on its effects and medical use has been limited. While rescheduling could lead to more clinical research on marijuana, the future is currently hazy. Today on The Weeds: what rescheduling cannabis means for medical re...
May 08, 2024•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Something is happening in Connecticut. Back in 2021, the state legislature passed a measure that would create something called baby bonds: trust accounts for children receiving government assistance. It’s an idea that started decades ago and was championed by Darrick Hamilton, the founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at the New School. On this week's episode of The Weeds, host Jonquilyn Hill sits down with Hamilton to discuss how the idea came to fruition, how ...
May 01, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you’ve never used Amazon, you almost definitely know someone who has. Amazon is pretty much everywhere. In the three decades since its founding, Amazon has grown from a small startup to a trillion-dollar company, skirting rules, taxes, and accountability along the way. Then, in 2023, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against the company for monopolistic business practices. Reporter Dana Mattioli has covered Amazon for years, and chronicled their rise to power in her new book, The E...
Apr 24, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast America is in the midst of a homelessness crisis. With little affordable housing and limited space at shelters, many people are instead sleeping outside. But as tent encampments become more common, particularly on the West Coast where the housing crisis is most acute, the pressure on local governments to address the problem has skyrocketed. Now, the Supreme Court has decided to weigh in. The issue at the center of it is whether cities can fine or jail unhoused people for sleeping outside. Vox se...
Apr 17, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since the Dobbs decision almost two years ago, reproductive rights have been at the center of our national consciousness. Two of the latest headlines come from Florida and Arizona: a six-week abortion ban, and a total abortion ban unless the life of the pregnant person is threatened, respectively. Both states have constitutions that name-check privacy rights, but both courts found that those rights don’t extend to abortion. What does privacy look like in the United States, and do we still have i...
Apr 10, 2024•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Earlier this year, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled frozen embryos have the same rights as children. The decision sent shockwaves throughout Alabama and raised serious questions about the future of IVF in the United States. While the Alabama legislature has since passed legislation protecting IVF in the state, that doesn’t address the big question behind the court’s decision: What does personhood mean, and what does it mean for the anti-abortion movement? Read More: Fetal personhood laws, explain...
Apr 03, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast What if you weren’t allowed to have more than $2,000 at any given time? Could you make it work? For people who receive Supplemental Security Income, this isn’t a what-if — it’s reality. SSI beneficiaries are subject to strict requirements and risk losing their benefits if they have more than $2,000 in financial assets, even if they exceed that by just a dollar. Why is the limit so low, and is anything being done to fix it? That’s today on The Weeds. Read More: Tyler (@tylerlimaroope) | TikTok Th...
Mar 27, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
