This story was originally published in The Highlight, Vox’s member-exclusive magazine. To get access to member-exclusive stories every month, join the Vox Membership program today. Let’s start with the bad news. There’s a decent chance, perhaps as high as 11 percent if you’re unvaccinated, that some time over the course of this winter, you’ll be overcome with […]

FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND, Australia — Australia is famously a place with some of the world’s most dangerous and frightening animals. Venomous spiders. Deadly snakes. Jellyfish with fatal stings.  But it is also home to one of the world’s cutest: the flying fox, also known as the giant fruit bat. I mean, look at this animal.  […]

Two judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, a court dominated by MAGA Republicans, just handed the Trump administration broad authority to lock up millions of immigrants — provided that it can get those immigrants to Texas, Louisiana, or Mississippi. In the short term, the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Buenrostro-Mendez […]

Editor’s note, February 9, 1:20 pm: This piece on Ilia Malinin was published before the 2026 Winter Olympics began. At the figure skating team event over the weekend — a competition that featured men’s, women’s, pairs, and ice dancing — Malinin came in second in the short program and helped the US team take gold […]

Across much of the United States, it’s downright dreary outside. It’s cold, the snow has gone from beautiful and pristine to dirty and crusted over, and the motivation to get outside is low. A 2024 poll from the American Psychiatric Association found that nearly half of Americans say their mood takes a dip in the […]