Much like their human cousins, baby macaques crave comfort.  Punch, a forlorn-looking young Japanese macaque monkey, went viral last week after being pictured clinging to an orange IKEA orangutan plushie at Japan’s Ichikawa City Zoo. Abandoned by his mother after being born in captivity, baby Punch has struggled to make friends in his concrete enclosure, […]

This story appeared in Today, Explained, a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day. Subscribe here. The January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol produced some extraordinary images. But for sheer narrative drama, look to the South Koreans. In the dead of night on December 3, 2024, former South […]

As his latest threats to Iran suggest, President Donald Trump has become increasingly comfortable deploying military force around the world. But even with a military as large and technologically advanced as America’s, there are limits to how quickly he can simply pivot from one global crisis to another.  Specifically, that limit seems to be about […]

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. There’s something sad about seeing a humanoid robot lying on the floor. Without any electricity, these bipedal machines can’t stand up, so if they’re powered down and not hanging from a winch, […]

Donald Trump is not forever.  There will be an after. It’s hard to see from the present, where everything feels frozen in place. But from history’s vantage, change is the only constant. American democracy has been remade several times — dramatically, unexpectedly, and often in ways that looked impossible until they arrived. The question is […]