Vox

How Google broke the internet | The Gray Area - July 31, 2026 - Vox
The internet is changing. For years our primary gateway to the internet has been search engines: we ask a question, a list of websites pops up, and we choose which ones to click on. But we are rapidly headed towards a different model, one in which AI-generated answers to our questions are our primary gateway to the internet. How we got here starts with Google.
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In today’s episode, guest host Miles Bryan interviews journalist Ryan Broderick to discuss “Google zero,” a point in time when Google stops pointing us towards a list of search results and instead only produces AI-generated answers. Miles and Ryan discuss the evolution of the internet, how search engine optimization changed content production, why AI may fundamentally change how we find information, and what the future of search might look like.
Host: Miles Bryan, Vox Senior Producer and Reporter
Guest: Ryan Broderick, Editor-in-Chief of Garbage Day
00:00 Intro
02:01 What is Google zero?
10:48 Why did Google become so popular?
16:06 Recipe blogs that SEO trap
21:31 Why the internet stopped feeling organic
28:22 Where did the ‘weird’ Internet go?
31:44 What is Ryan Broderick optimistic about?
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How a Super El Niño affects the global climate - July 29, 2026 - Vox
On June 11, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued an El Niño advisory after temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean remained higher than average for several months. Declaring an El Niño isn’t out of the ordinary, as they happen in cycles every two to seven years. But this one could be extraordinary.
Some are calling it a “Super” or “Godzilla” El Niño, and the NOAA predicts an 81 percent chance that it could develop to a “very strong” level, rivaling the historic and devastating El Niños of 1982-1983 and 1997-1998. Experts are predicting it will likely reach its peak this winter and into 2027, bringing heat, rainfall, and other potential extreme weather events.
But even with that foresight and climate models that can confidently predict what might be in store, we still face a test of what could potentially be the strongest El Niño ever recorded and the wild weather that comes with it. We spoke with atmospheric scientists and meteorologists to find out how a Super El Niño forms, why it changes global climate, and what we should expect in the coming months.
Read more about El Niño:
The latest from NOAA about this El Niño: https://www.noaa.gov/topic-tags/el-nino-la-nina-enso
Vox podcast The Gray Area covers the possibility of a “Godzilla El Niño”: https://www.vox.com/podcasts/495653/el-nino-climate-change-global-warming-david-wallace-wells
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/
World Meteorological Organization’s seasonal outlook for El Niño heat and rainfall: https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/el-nino-forecast-intensify-increasing-likelihood-of-extreme-weather
The Guardian’s coverage of California’s shark surge: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/14/california-sharks-el-nino
New York Times article about powerful El Niños of the past: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/climate/el-nino-history-famine.html
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The illusion of the ‘self’ | The Gray Area - July 27, 2026 - Vox
Sean Illing talks with neuroscientist Gregory Berns, author of The Self Delusion. Berns claims that the idea of a unified, persistent self is a kind of illusion, and that we are better understood as multiple selves at different moments in time, tied together by a story — which is what we call our identity. Sean and Greg also talk about whether the brain is a computer, how perception works, the limits of thinking too much about thinking, and what psychedelics can do to disrupt and change the stories we tell about ourselves.
This episode originally aired in November of 2022.
Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Gregory Berns (@gberns), author; professor of psychology and distinguished professor of neuroeconomics, Emory University
00:00 Intro
06:34 The story we tell ourselves
10:38 The mystery of consciousness
17:32 Psychedelics and the self
25:49 We are constantly changing, even on a cellular level
34:54 Is the brain really like a computer?
39:41 How other people shape the stories we tell ourselves
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The Boomer politicians who won't retire | America, Actually - July 25, 2026 - Vox
Congressman James Clyburn remains one of the defining architects of modern Democratic politics. But as a new generation of voters pushes for structural reform, is the establishment listening?
Vox’s Astead Herndon sits down with 86-year-old Clyburn to challenge him on corporate PAC contributions, the lessons of the 2024 election, and whether experience should triumph over generational turnover.
00:00 – Intro
01:22 – Why Rep. Jim Clyburn decided to run for reelection at 86
05:32 – Experience vs. youth in Congress and the debate over cognitive tests
09:08 – Looking back at Joe Biden's 2024 debate performance and reelection bid
11:34 – Working across the aisle: Clyburn on his relationship with Sen. Lindsey Graham
12:38 – Are younger politicians too rigid?
14:26 – The CBC’s defense of corporate PAC money
19:02 – Technology, AI, and how veteran lawmakers legislate modern issues
20:32 – Navigating the Democratic primaries
25:43 – Who is to blame for the Democratic Party’s brand problem?
30:35 - Lessons from the Biden administration and Kamala Harris’s defeat
America, Actually publishes video episodes every Saturday tackling key issues in politics, culture, and the economy. Subscribe to Vox’s YouTube channel to get them. Listen to episodes of America, Actually on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.
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