~vox | Bookmarks (540)

In 2004, in one of the most high-profile trials of the past two decades, Scott Peterson was convicted of murdering his wife, Laci Peterson, 27, and their unborn son, Conner, with whom Laci was eight months pregnant. Now, two different new docuseries on the case — Netflix’s American Murder: Laci Peterson (released August 14) and […]

The Supreme Court handed down a brief and very odd opinion on Friday that seemed to abandon its landmark civil rights decision in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), a four-year-old case that compelled the Biden administration to write rules forbidding discrimination against gay and trans students. The Court’s new decision in Department of Education v. […]

If you plunge into the warm, blue waters of the Caribbean today, what you’ll see in most regions is actually quite bleak. Where there were once vibrant coral reefs teeming with sharks, groupers, and lobsters, there are now piles of rubble, carpets of green seaweed, and only the meager remains of a once colorful sea […]

The Trump campaign wants to run against an anti-cop, open-borders “communist” — and believes that it can cast Vice President Kamala Harris in that role.  Harris, for her part, has taken pains to beat such charges of ideological extremism. By abandoning certain progressive commitments, embracing conservative rhetorical tropes, and claiming the mantle of economic populism, […]

What does British Airways’ recent decision to suspend its London-Beijing route have to do with the war in Ukraine? How does the Israel-Palestine conflict lead to cargo ships with containers falling overboard in rough weather off the southern African coast? What does an earthquake in Tonga tell us about the vulnerability of Taiwan’s communications infrastructure?  […]

“This is our last day together.”  It’s something you might say to a lover as a whirlwind romance comes to an end. But could you ever imagine saying it to… software?  Well, somebody did. When OpenAI tested out GPT-4o, its latest generation chatbot that speaks aloud in its own voice, the company observed users forming […]

On the Money is a monthly advice column. If you want advice on spending, saving, or investing — or any of the complicated emotions that may come up as you prepare to make big financial decisions — you can submit your question on this form. Here, we answer two questions asked by Vox readers, which have […]

What does it mean for AI safety if this whole AI thing is a bit of a bust?  “Is this all hype and no substance?” is a question more people have been asking lately about generative AI, pointing out that there have been delays in model releases, that commercial applications have been slow to emerge, […]

Call it a crude comparison, but President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race and endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee last month called to mind Beyoncé’s left-field self-titled album drop in 2013. There was a surprise, there was fevered excitement, there was a kind of coronation and a whole lot […]

Some of the ways I feel myself aging are obvious. Half of my hairs are white now. I can’t stay up past midnight. I hate loud restaurants and bars. I feel a deep urge to read long biographies of generals.  But other signs of aging are subtler. For example: I am now worried about the […]

Columbia University president Minouche Shafik is stepping down after protests over the war in Gaza roiled the university community and spread to campuses nationwide, and in Europe, last spring.  “This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community,” Shafik said in a letter announcing her resignation […]

Blake Lively’s It Ends With Us is the second biggest movie in America, but it’s the conflict surrounding the film — not the film itself — that everyone’s talking about.  Apparently, Lively and her co-stars are feuding with lead and director Justin Baldoni. Baldoni and Lively reportedly didn’t get along, and he allegedly “fat-shamed” her […]

Ukraine’s invasion into the Kursk region of Russia shocked Ukrainians, their allies, and most of all, Russia.  Ukrainian units have mounted brief, overnight raids into Russian territory before, including one into the Kursk region — near Russia’s western border — earlier this year. But those were quick incursions followed by hasty retreats. This time is […]

In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated that 2 billion people worldwide lack access to clean water. Roughly a quarter of the world’s population might seem bad enough. But on Thursday, a new study published in Science reported that 2 billion was a huge underestimate. New analyses […]

If your utility bill confuses you and makes you sweat every month when it demands hundreds of your hard-earned dollars, you’re not alone. The price of electricity is continuing to rise across the United States, and there’s no end in sight.  Why are our electricity bills getting so expensive? Energy prices have been creeping up […]

We’re presently in what appears to be the worst Covid-19 summer surge in several years, especially in the southern US. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), all of the metrics related to Covid-19 that we should be worried about are going up — not just cases, but hospitalizations and deaths, too. […]

This story is the second feature in a Vox special project, Changing With Our Climate, a limited-run series exploring Indigenous solutions to extreme weather rooted in history — and the future. Silas Yamamoto’s favorite part of his job is starting fires.  As a prescribed fire technician with the Karuk Tribe and the Mid Klamath Watershed Council […]

How do you solve a problem like Trump v. United States? The Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Trump, which held that presidents have sweeping immunity from criminal prosecution for any official act — even something like ordering the Justice Department to round up and arrest their political foes — is such an unimaginable betrayal of […]

Economic data released this week suggests inflation is continuing to cool, paving the way for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, which would relieve some of the pressure high borrowing costs put on consumers and businesses.  According to the July Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released Wednesday, year-over-year inflation dipped to 2.9 percent overall, […]

Pit bulls are one of the most controversial and misunderstood dogs in America. They are subject to breed-specific legislation (BSL), which exists in over 700 US cities and communities. BSL refers to laws that restrict or ban ownership of dogs based on breeds, particularly pit bulls, due to their reputation for being dangerous and aggressive. […]

In October 2023, members of the the World DanceSport Federation, or WDSF, learned breaking, the sport they’d been trying to make happen at the Olympics for years, would not be appearing at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. In response, the organization’s president, Shawn Tay, made a grand proclamation. “Ensuring the success of breaking’s Olympic debut […]

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report on their 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The report includes data on a wide range of health-related behaviors of high school students in the United States, and breaks down these behaviors across different demographics. The results underscore the fact that we’re […]

Former President Donald Trump left the White House amid a public health emergency that his own messaging helped exacerbate. Now, as he campaigns to retake the presidency, he is once again politicizing long-held best practices for stopping infectious diseases. With Covid-19 again on the upswing and amid an ongoing measles outbreak, the former president is […]

Landlocked Vermont might not be the first state that comes to mind for hurricanes, but the recent major storms made clear that it’s not immune from their havoc.  Hurricane Debby made landfall at Category 1 strength in Florida on August 5, but days later, its windy remnants knocked out power for nearly 25,000 people in […]