Skip to main content
What if quitting your terrible job would help the economy?
Future Perfect

Should people who quit get unemployment benefits?

By Oshan Jarow
Will AI ever become conscious? It depends on how you think about biology.Will AI ever become conscious? It depends on how you think about biology.
Future Perfect

The debate that will steer the future of consciousness — and us.

By Oshan Jarow
Future Perfect, explainedFuture Perfect, explained
Future Perfect

Welcome to Vox’s home for stories about changing the world.

By Dylan Matthews
Support Future PerfectSupport Future Perfect
Future Perfect

We are always searching for new and innovative ways to fund the work we do and ensure the health of Future Perfect for years to come.

By Vox Staff

The latest in Future Perfect

The best plan to help refugees might also be the simplest
Future Perfect

More refugees live in cities. Could cash help them rebuild their lives?

By Jacob Kushner
What nuclear annihilation could look likeWhat nuclear annihilation could look like
Audio
The Gray Area

“The survivors would envy the dead.”

By Sean Illing
If it’s 100 degrees out, does your boss have to give you a break? Probably not.If it’s 100 degrees out, does your boss have to give you a break? Probably not.
Future Perfect

The US doesn‘t have federal heat protections. A standard would save lives. As a heat dome suffocates much of the East, it‘s becoming more apparent that we need better standards in the face of climate change.

By Sam Delgado
Can we be actually normal about birth rates?Can we be actually normal about birth rates?
Future Perfect

Declining birth rates do matter, but we need to approach them thoughtfully.

By Kelsey Piper
Why Americans hate inflation — and its cureWhy Americans hate inflation — and its cure
Future Perfect

Other countries have social safety nets. The US has debt.

By Dylan Matthews
Drug-resistant bacteria are killing more and more humans. We need new weapons.Drug-resistant bacteria are killing more and more humans. We need new weapons.
Future Perfect

Scientists are testing futuristic tools to dismantle antibiotic resistance.

By Cecilia Butini
It shouldn’t be so hard to live near your friends
Even Better

Americans are more socially isolated than ever. Here’s how we can reconnect.

By Zoë Bernard
The biggest unknown in psychedelic therapy is not the psychedelicsThe biggest unknown in psychedelic therapy is not the psychedelics
Future Perfect

Why critics call the company pushing to legalize MDMA a "therapy cult."

By Sigal Samuel
Yes in God’s backyard? This housing solution may be the answer to your prayers.Yes in God’s backyard? This housing solution may be the answer to your prayers.
Housing

Churches, mosques, and temples could change the game on affordable housing.

By Rachel M. Cohen
Do we have Alzheimer’s disease all wrong?Do we have Alzheimer’s disease all wrong?
Future Perfect

Retracted studies and new treatments reveal the confusing state of Alzheimer’s research.

By Dylan Scott
The AI bill that has Big Tech panickedThe AI bill that has Big Tech panicked
Future Perfect

Why some tech leaders are so worried about a California AI safety bill.

By Kelsey Piper
The federal government’s new plan to (maybe) give renters straight cashThe federal government’s new plan to (maybe) give renters straight cash
Policy

A bold experiment to help tenants is advancing.

By Rachel M. Cohen
We’re in a new era of conflict and crisis. Can humanitarian aid keep up?We’re in a new era of conflict and crisis. Can humanitarian aid keep up?
Future Perfect

“Utter neglect of displaced people has become the new normal.”

By Jess Craig
Business owners are buying into a bogus myth about drivingBusiness owners are buying into a bogus myth about driving
Future Perfect

NYC’s very good plan to fix traffic fell victim to a very bad argument. And it's not just New York.

By David Zipper
World leaders neglected this crisis. Now genocide looms.World leaders neglected this crisis. Now genocide looms.
Future Perfect

Already the world’s worst displacement crisis, new battlefronts in Sudan could unleash ethnic violence and genocide.

By Jess Craig
Elephants have names — and they use them with each otherElephants have names — and they use them with each other
Future Perfect

A new study reveals elephants are more like humans than we realized. What does that mean for the movement for their rights?

By Celia Ford
This is your kid on smartphonesThis is your kid on smartphones
Audio
The Gray Area

A Q&A with Jonathan Haidt on smartphones, kids today, and what the skeptics get wrong about his argument.

By Sean Illing
Where AI predictions go wrongWhere AI predictions go wrong
Future Perfect

Both skeptics and boosters are too sure of themselves.

By Kelsey Piper
What if you could have a panic attack, but for joy?
Future Perfect

Mindfulness is one thing. Jhāna meditation is stranger, stronger, and going mainstream.

By Oshan Jarow
OpenAI insiders are demanding a “right to warn” the public OpenAI insiders are demanding a “right to warn” the public 
Future Perfect

“I’m scared. I’d be crazy not to be,” one former employee tells Vox.

By Sigal Samuel
Can artists use their own deepfakes for good?Can artists use their own deepfakes for good?
Future Perfect

Musician FKA twigs made a digital clone of herself. Is this the future of celebrity?

By Celia Ford
MDMA’s federal approval drama, briefly explainedMDMA’s federal approval drama, briefly explained
Future Perfect

MDMA looked like it was on a fast track for PTSD treatment. Now, an FDA committee is advising otherwise.

By Oshan Jarow
This is the world’s best investmentThis is the world’s best investment
Today, Explained newsletter

A new study finds that combating malaria, TB, and HIV pays for itself 405 times over.

By Dylan Matthews
Republicans want to put pigs back in tiny cages. Again.Republicans want to put pigs back in tiny cages. Again.
Future Perfect

House Republicans are working to make America's factory farms even crueler.

By Marina Bolotnikova
This changed everything
Life

The turning points that defined the last 10 years.

By Vox Staff
10 big things we think will happen in the next 10 years
Future Perfect

Obesity will go down, electric cars will go up, and a nuclear bomb might just fall.

By Bryan Walsh, Dylan Matthews and 4 more
This article is OpenAI training dataThis article is OpenAI training data
Technology

AI is holding the internet hostage — and media is no exception.

By Bryan Walsh
Big Milk has taken over American schools
Future Perfect

How centuries of milk marketing warped the way we think about dairy and nutrition.

By Kenny Torrella
The bizarre link between rising sea levels and complications in pregnancyThe bizarre link between rising sea levels and complications in pregnancy
Climate

Exposure to salty water can rob women of their reproductive organs and pregnancies.

By Mahadi Al Hasnat and Zoya Teirstein
Expecting worse: Giving birth on a planet in crisis 
Climate

How climate change transforms our reproductive lives, from menstruation to fertility to pregnancy.

By Paige Vega
Heat waves increase the number of risky, premature birthsHeat waves increase the number of risky, premature births
Climate

Extreme heat is dangerous when you're pregnant — particularly for those in underrepresented communities.

By Virginia Gewin
Why pregnancy triples your chances of getting severe malariaWhy pregnancy triples your chances of getting severe malaria
Climate

How to protect mothers and babies as warming temperatures expand the risk of contracting the disease.

By Zoya Teirstein
The obscure federal intelligence bureau that got Vietnam, Iraq, and Ukraine right
Future Perfect

INR is “almost always right.” How come nobody has heard of it?

By Dylan Matthews
Why we need a Memorial Day for civilian victims of warWhy we need a Memorial Day for civilian victims of war
Future Perfect

Non-combatants bear the brunt of modern war's toll, but we don’t know how to memorialize them.

By Bryan Walsh
People bet on sports. Why not on anything else?People bet on sports. Why not on anything else?
Future Perfect

Who killed the prediction market?

By Dylan Matthews
Leaked OpenAI documents reveal aggressive tactics toward former employees
Future Perfect

Has Sam Altman told the truth about OpenAI’s NDA scandal?

By Kelsey Piper
The double sexism of ChatGPT’s flirty “Her” voiceThe double sexism of ChatGPT’s flirty “Her” voice
Future Perfect

Is OpenAI gaslighting Scarlett Johansson?

By Sigal Samuel
Dopamine, explained
Future Perfect

Dopamine detoxing, hacking, and fasting: Is any of it real?

By Celia Ford
The misleading, wasteful way we measure gas mileage, explainedThe misleading, wasteful way we measure gas mileage, explained
Future Perfect

And how to measure fuel economy better.

By David Zipper
“I lost trust”: Why the OpenAI team in charge of safeguarding humanity imploded“I lost trust”: Why the OpenAI team in charge of safeguarding humanity imploded
Future Perfect

Company insiders explain why safety-conscious employees are leaving.

By Sigal Samuel