Explain It to Me

Listener Tessa was at the airport and noticed that the REAL ID deadline had been extended — yet again — to May 2025. Why does it keep happening? Will REAL ID will ever become a thing? Team Explain It to Me goes on a reporting journey to bring her an answer nearly 20 years in the making. 

If you have a question, please give us a call at 1-800-618-8545, or you can fill out this form. 

This episode was produced by Carla Javier and Sofi LaLonde, edited by Jorge Just, fact-checked by Melissa Hirsch, engineered by Andrea Kristinsdottir, and hosted by Jonquilyn Hill. 

READ MORE:

Real IDs, explained

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Starting this week, Explain It to Me is moving to Sundays. Check out our next episode here on March 2.

You can also find us in the Today, Explained feed as of Sunday, March 9.

If you have questions you'd like us to investigate, call our hotline: 1-800-618-8545.

The Explain It to Me newsletter is publishing Sundays now too! Sign up here: https://www.vox.com/pages/explain-it-to-me-newsletter-sign-up.

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We spend about a third of our lives either sleeping or trying to fall asleep. Why are we so bad at it? We ask behavioral sleep specialist Jade Wu. 

This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh and Carla Javier, edited by Miranda Kennedy, fact checked by Melissa Hirsch, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Jonquilyn Hill. 

Have a question about relationships, the workplace, health or anything else that matters to you? Leave us a voicemail with your question at 1-800-618-8545.

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Listener Elisa has heard egg freezing touted as “an easy, perfect solution” for women who want to have it all, but she’s skeptical. Writer MeiMei Fox tells the disastrous story of freezing her own eggs, and Vox senior correspondent Anna North explains why freezing your eggs is not really a girlboss panacea.

Do you have a question about navigating family planning or reproductive health? Give us a call. We wanna make future episodes about the things that matter to you in your daily lives. Our number is 1-800-618-8545. You can also let us know via this form.

Read more:

The failed promise of egg freezing

How safe is donating your eggs?

This episode was produced by Victoria Chamberlin, Hady Mawajdeh and Carla Javier, edited by Amina Al-Sadi and Miranda Kennedy, fact checked by Laura Bullard and Hady Mawajdeh, engineered by Patrick Boyd and Andrea Kristinsdottir, and hosted by Jonquilyn Hill.

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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 [email protected]. And tell us: what are the questions that keep you up at night – literally?

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Hady Mawajdeh, producer

Andrea Kristinsdottir, engineer

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Miranda Kennedy, editor

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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 column, Your Mileage May Vary. 

This episode was made in partnership with Vox's Future Perfect team.

Have questions you can’t answer? Call Explain It to Me at 1-800-618-8545, or submit them here. 

Read more:

Sigal’s column, Your Mileage May Vary

You can’t optimize your way to being a good person

The Future Perfect newsletter

Share your quandaries with Sigal here 

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Caitlin PenzeyMoog, fact checker

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Jorge Just, editor

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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 the author of the new book Criminal Justice in Divided America.

We want to know what’s on your mind! Call us at 1-800-618-8545 and leave us a voicemail with your name and your question — we may answer it in a future episode.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Patrick Boyd, engineer

Kim Eggleston, fact checker

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Jorge Just, editor

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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, should I bother using antibacterial soap?

You’ve never heard of the Covid booster with the fewest side effects

Put down that cough medicine

We want to answer your questions in future episodes. Call us at 1-800-618-8545, fill out this form, or send us an email at [email protected]. We love to hear from you.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Andrea Kristinsdottir, engineer

Caitlin PenzeyMoog, fact-checker

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Jorge Just, editor

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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 Tinder to find out.

We’re working on some great episodes, and want to answer more of your questions in the new year! Leave us a voicemail at 1-800-618-8545, fill out this form, or send us a voice memo at [email protected]. We love to hear from you.

Credits:

Jonquilyn Hill, host and producer

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Caitlin PenzeyMoog and Kim Eggleston, fact-checkers

Carla Javier, supervising producer

Jorge Just, editor

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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 from their Ask Gastropod series. 

Check out Gastropod.

Let us know what questions you want us to look into for future episodes of Explain It to Me: Call 1-800-618-8545, email us at [email protected], or fill out this form.

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