The Daily

Birds Aren’t Real, a conspiracy theory with an apparently absurd premise, has become surprisingly popular in the past few years. But its followers were in on the joke: The movement’s aim was to poke fun at misinformation … by creating misinformation. Has it been successful? Guest: Taylor Lorenz , a former technology reporter for The New York Times. Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? Th...

If Russia invades Ukraine, it would be the largest and potentially deadliest military action in Europe since World War II. So why is there so much division between the U.S. and its European allies over how seriously to take the threat? Guest: Anton Troianovski , the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times. Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode...

This episode contains depictions of violence Almost two years ago, a shocking nine-minute video was released showing a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, fatally kneeling on the neck of George Floyd. Mr. Chauvin is now serving a long sentence for murder. A few weeks ago, a trial began in the case of the three other officers who were on the scene that day. They are charged with violating Mr...

If you didn’t think poker and artificial intelligence could be bedfellows, think again. Keith Romer delves into the history of man’s pursuit of the perfect game of poker, and explains how the use of A.I. is altering how it is played: individuals using an algorithmic “solver program” to analyze potential weaknesses about themselves and their opponents, thus gaining an advantage. While it feels futu...

Reporters from The Times are joining athletes from around the world as they descend on Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics, where they are encountering the strictest and most wide-ranging health requirements ever attempted at an Olympic Games. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has made it his goal to keep the coronavirus out of the country as much as possible, and these requirements are an extension of...

A recent ISIS attack on a prison in northeastern Syria became the biggest confrontation between the terrorist group and the United States and its allied forces since 2019. The attack raises a question: Could the Islamic State group be on the cusp of a resurgence?  We explore what the attack means, why the prison was so vulnerable in the first place and what has become of the thousands of fighters...

Since the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a clearer picture has emerged of the steps that President Donald J. Trump and his allies took to try to keep him in power and overturn the 2020 election. One of the biggest questions, however, has been how far was Mr. Trump willing to go in using the apparatus of the federal government to stay in power? The Times has uncovered that in the weeks af...

Inflation in the United States has been getting worse. In December, prices were up 7 percent from the previous year — the fastest rise in 40 years.  Americans feel terrible about the economy, imperiling the Democratic Party’s chances of holding on to power in Washington in this year’s midterm elections. While disruption caused by the pandemic is a key cause of higher prices — a situation that pred...

America, it seems, might be at a turning point in how we think about and respond to the pandemic. Yet, the U.S., at this moment, is still in the midst of crisis — thousands of people are in hospital and dying every day. In the second part of our exploration of the state of the pandemic, we speak with Dr. Anthony Fauci about the conditions under which we could learn to live with the virus and what...

Today, Maggie Jones explores the overlooked topic of geriatric sex. Profiling older couples for whom it is still important, she considers the obstacles and joys of having sex over the age of 70, and the way society has begun to talk more openly about it in recent years. As bodies change, Jones writes, good sex in old age often requires reimagining and expanding: a conscious inclusion of more touch...

During the pandemic, the price of beef shot up. Wholesale beef prices increased more than 40 percent — more than 70 percent for certain cuts of steak.  The conventional wisdom was that price increases simply reflected the chaos that the coronavirus had caused in the supply chain. But there’s evidence that they were in fact a reflection of a more fundamental change in the meatpacking business. We s...

On Wednesday, it was revealed that Justice Stephen Breyer, the senior member of the Supreme Court’s liberal wing, will retire from the bench.  Democrats, and many on the left, will have breathed a sigh of relief. His decision has given President Biden the chance to nominate a successor while Democrats control the Senate.  We take a look at the legacy of Justice Breyer’s time on the court, why he c...

It appears that the United States may be at a turning point in the pandemic. The contagiousness of the Omicron variant has many people resigned to the fact that they probably will be infected; this variant is, relative to its predecessors and in most cases, milder; and there is universal vaccine access for those old enough to receive a shot.  So, The Times commissioned a poll of 4,400 Americans to...

When allegations first emerged in November about parties held at 10 Downing Street, the residence and offices of the British prime minister, during a strict Covid lockdown, Prime Minister Boris Johnson waved them away.  Yet in the weeks since, the scandal has only grown, with public outrage building as more instances and details of lockdown parties at Downing Street have emerged. Some voters in Br...

This episode contains strong language.  Marieke Vervoort was a champion Paralympic athlete from Belgium. In 2016, Vervoort, who had a progressive disease, announced her retirement from professional sports and spoke of her desire to undergo euthanasia. Today, we hear Vervoort’s story from Lynsey Addario, a photojournalist who documented the end of her life. “In most of my experiences covering Iraq...

What is “disgust”? Molly Young, a journalist with The New York Times, considers the evolutionary and social uses of this “universal aspect of life” to identify the impact of disgust in its physical, psychological and linguistic manifestations. Young explains the different forms of disgust, analyzing how the reactions they elicit play out in the body and mind, and why it is in many ways cultural. S...

Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1 player in men’s tennis, had a lot at stake going into this year’s Australian Open. A win there would have made him the most decorated male tennis player in history.  But he arrived in the country without having had a Covid-19 vaccination, flying in the face of Australia’s rules, and after a court battle he was ultimately deported. In Australia, the “Djokovic affair”...

Microsoft announced this week that it was acquiring Activision Blizzard, the maker of video games such as Call of Duty and Candy Crush, in a deal valued at nearly $70 billion. Microsoft, the owner of Xbox, said the acquisition was a step toward gaining a foothold in the metaverse. But what exactly is the metaverse? And why are some of the biggest companies in the world spending billions of dollars...

It’s a big week in the Senate for voting rights. Democrats have two bills that include measures to bolster and protect elections. But the bills are almost certain to fail. Why has it proved almost impossible to pass legislation so integral to the agenda of President Biden and the Democrats? Guest: Astead W. Herndon , a national political reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Dai...

Four years ago, Azmat Khan, an investigative reporter for The Times Magazine, told us the story of Basim Razzo , whose entire family was killed in a U.S.-led airstrike in Iraq. His story helped reveal how American air wars were resulting in a staggering number of civilian deaths. Analyzing thousands of pages of U.S. military reports and investigating in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, Azmat was able...

Elizabeth Weil, the author of today’s Sunday Read, writes that, in her marriage, there was a silent third spouse: California. “The state was dramatic and a handful,” Weil writes. “But she was gorgeous, and she brought into our lives, through the natural world, all the treasure and magic we’d need.” However, for Weil, there is internal conflict living in a state where wildfires have become the norm...

Sidney Poitier, who was Hollywood’s first Black matinee idol and who helped open the door for Black actors in the film industry, died last week. He was 94. For Wesley Morris, a Times culture critic, it is Mr. Poitier — not John Wayne, Cary Grant or Marilyn Monroe — who is the greatest American movie star. “His legacy is so much wider and deeper than the art itself,” Wesley said. “This man has mana...

As the highly infectious Omicron variant surged, a high-stakes battle played out between Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago and the city’s teachers’ union about how to keep schools open and safe. We chart this battle on the ground in Chicago, speaking with teachers, parents and students about the standoff. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the...

The diplomatic talks in Geneva this week are of a kind not seen in a long time: an effort to defuse the possibility of a major war in Europe. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has amassed military equipment and personnel on the border with Ukraine. President Biden has warned that there will be consequences if Mr. Putin decides to invade, but what can Washington do to impel the Kremlin to back...

 The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has a reputation for causing mild illness, yet it’s fueling a staggering rise in hospitalizations across the country.  In some of the early hot spots for the variant, emergency rooms are filling up, hospitals are being flooded with new patients and there aren’t enough staff to care for all of them.  We explore why the Omicron surge is leading to hospitalizat...