A new way to listen

We have an exciting announcement! Vox Members now get access to ad-free podcasts. If you sign up, you’ll get unlimited access to reporting on vox.com, exclusive newsletters, and all of our podcasts — including Unexplainable — ad-free. Plus, you’ll be playing a crucial role helping our show get made. Check it out at vox.com/members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Noam Hassenfeld?

  Hey, it's Noam. It's a Monday, which is weird. Also, this is a really short episode, which is also weird. But I'm here to tell you about something really cool. Before I do, though, just want to let you know that this mini-episode is brought to you by nobody. Nobody. When you've got a chunk of time and you don't want to be bothered, call nobody. Nobody will show up immediately, say nothing, and then you can get right back to it. Nobody's been around for thousands of years and they've never done anything. Nobody. Nothing for no one. Okay, back to why we're here. Vox, which puts out this podcast, has a membership program. Maybe you knew that already.

• 0:43Noam Hassenfeld?

  But much more important is the newest Vox member perk: ad-free podcasts. So if you sign up as a Vox member, you're going to get unlimited access to all the reporting on vox.com. You're going to get exclusive newsletters, and you'll get every episode of Unexplainable, Today Explained, The Gray Area, and Explain It To Me, all ad-free. Brought to you by nobody. Like this mini-episode. Just nonstop, pure Vox audio content right into your ear holes. And there's an even bigger reason why you might want to become a Vox member. A reason that is almost certainly more important and probably a lot less effective as a sales

• 1:23Noam Hassenfeld?

  message, but Vox is an independent publication, which means we rely on support from listeners like you for the journalism that we make. Our goal is to help you understand what really matters. That's why we report on the most time-sensitive and pressing issues shaping our world, but it's also why we report on things that others don't really talk about that much, like unanswered questions and the long, often frustrating process of scientific inquiry. We can only do this kind of work because of support from people like you. So if you want to support our work and also get ad-free podcasts, you can go to vox.com/members/today. Just to recap, it's Monday. I'm Noam. This episode is brought to you by nobody.

• 2:06Noam Hassenfeld?

  And if you like that sort of thing, you can become a Vox member to get more episodes of Unexplainable ad-free. Vox.com/members.