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As editor of the Today, Explained daily newsletter — sign up here! — I’m always hunting for the big stories in the news that our readers want delivered to their inboxes each day. 

Mostly, I do this by assuming you’re like me: engaged and informed, looking for the pieces that surprise you, entertain you, and give you the exact right thing to talk about over dinner with your friends. Of course you want to read more about why tensions in the Middle East are rising again! But that doesn’t mean you’re above a Love Is Blind marathon. 

Compiling coverage from across the site and seeing what clicks with you is my job, so here are some Vox articles, videos, and podcasts that really clicked for me this week. 

—Lavanya Ramanathan, senior editor

The only moment from the VP debate that mattered

I watched the vice-presidential debate this past week, mostly because both candidates had something to prove: For Democrat Tim Walz, an extremely abbreviated campaign meant that this was the Minnesota governor’s chance to make a national impression. For Republican Sen. JD Vance, it was an opportunity to, well, salvage his reputation after spreading racist, false claims about Haitian residents of his own state and generally insulting single women everywhere. Vance did almost manage to put a calm and reasonable sheen on Trumpism that night, until the end, when Walz asked him point-blank whether he believed Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Vance’s evasiveness spoke volumes, and Vox’s Zack Beauchamp, an expert on the right, broke down just why that mattered more than anything else Vance said that night.  

Your iPhone is probably a satellite phone. Here’s how it could save your life.

Adam Clark Estes (who, by the way, the team at Vox likes to call “Ace”) used to write about consumer tech, and so I love to turn to him when I’m looking for an accessible way to better use and understand the technology we live with every day. He found that in the wake of Hurricane Helene, survivors realized that their iPhones could now work as satellite phones — a feature that was only a few weeks old before the mega-storm highlighted how crucial it could be. I love to hike and travel, and so I immediately gravitated to this story that shows you how you, too, can use your phone in an emergency.  

🎧 Today, Explained

Over two very fun episodes, the team from our daily podcast took listeners to Portugal and then Miami to talk to workers – half of whom had fled the US in search of a better work-life balance, and the other half who were back in the office sometimes as often as five days a week. The episodes showed us the tension that exists between what so-called “knowledge workers” want and what companies such as Amazon say they believe is necessary to spur innovation and corporate “culture.” Not a podcast listener? You can also read the text versions of both episodes. 

How bad is inflammation really?

You can’t be on social media today and not hear the incessant chatter about “inflammation,” a mystery ailment that influencers attribute to everything from vegetable oils to almond milk to, as Keren Landman notes in this piece, lentils. Keren isn’t just a delightful writer, she’s a medical doctor, and she sensitively explains what inflammation is — yes, it’s real, even if we don’t always understand it! — and when we might be putting too much stock in what Goop tells us about our health. 

Israel has invaded Lebanon. Here’s what could come next.

Vox’s forte is explaining, bringing clarity to the chaotic moments in the news, and right now, nothing feels more chaotic than what’s happening in the Middle East. Over the past several weeks, from the moment pagers began exploding in the pockets of apparent Hezbollah members in Lebanon to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, Vox has been explaining why the conflicts seem to be growing and just how this might all end. Catching up with this piece is a great way to stay in the know on these complex situations. 

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