Explain It to Me

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 lunch ordering strategy, Hollywood trash talk, and, most importantly, answers.  

Is there something you’re dying to figure out? Send us your questions! Call 1-800-618-8545.

Read More:

Can ranking candidates fix elections?

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Caitlin PenzeyMoog, fact checker

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Jorge Just and Natalie Jennings, editors

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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 left- or right-handed molecules? 

Check out Unexplainable wherever you get your podcasts.

If you have a question — something you’d like us to explain to you — give us a call at 1-800-618-8545. You can also send us your question here. 

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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 a break, about anything else — by calling 1-800-618-8545. You can also submit them here.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde and Gabrielle Berbey, producers

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Caity PenzeyMoog, Anouck Dussaud, and Sarah Schweppe, fact checkers

Jorge Just, Julia Longoria, and Natalie Jennings, editors 

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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 [email protected] and check back here Friday morning for our election special. 

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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’re producing a special episode featuring your election-related questions and experiences, from heading to the polls to processing the results. So save our number now 1-800-618-8545 and call us next week with what you suddenly need to know. 

Read More:

Why food recalls are everywhere right now

Watch Kim’s video about Red Dye No. 3 here

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Anouck Dussaud, fact-checker

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Jorge Just, editor

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“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 questions for our election week episode. Tell us what’s on your mind here, or give us a call. Our number is 1-800-618-8545. 

Read More:

Can we trust the polls this year?

Why are political campaigns always guilt-tripping us to donate?

Sign up for the Today, Explained and Explain It to Me newsletters here. 

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Caitlin PenzeyMoog, fact-checker

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Jorge Just, editor

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Vivian Tu a.k.a. Your Rich BFF offers some financial real talk.

Submit your questions here, or give us a call. Our number is 1-800-618-8545.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Andrea Kristinsdottir, engineer

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Melissa Hirsch, fact checker

Katherine Wells and Jorge Just, editors

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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 Issue of The Highlight!

Marriage, A History

Submit your questions here, or give us a call. Our number is 1-800-618-8545.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Caitlin PenzeyMoog, fact-checker

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Jorge Just, editor

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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 Meat

Submit your questions here, or give us a call. Our number is 1-800-618-8545.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Caitlin PenzeyMoog, fact-checker

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Katherine Wells and Jorge Just, editors

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 [email protected], or fill out this form.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Katherine Wells, editor

Caitlin PenzeyMoog, fact-checker

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices