The C.D.C.’s Vaccine Chief on Why Quitting Was His Only Option

A curious news story emerged in New York last week. It involved the mayor’s race, a reporter from the news outlet The City and a bag of chips. Michael Forsythe, a reporter on the investigations team at The New York Times, explains how the episode fits into a larger story about how China has been attempting to influence American politics.

President Trump’s decision to try to fire a member of the Federal Reserve’s governing board is his most audacious attack yet on the independence of the central bank. Ben Casselman, chief economics correspondent for The New York Times, discusses why Mr. Trump’s route to controlling the Fed passes through the governor, an economics professor named Lisa Cook.

Seemingly overnight, Americans have become obsessed with pumping as much protein as possible into every drink, snack and meal. Elizabeth Dunn, a writer and contributor to The Times, explains the origins of this latest nutrition craze.

The race to dominate artificial intelligence has become a scramble for talent, with tech companies offering pay packages of $250 million and poaching their competitors’ best employees. Mike Isaac, who covers the tech sector for The Times, explains why all the hype is raising fears that A.I. could become the next big bubble.

Stories of romantic love are everywhere, but the actor, singer and comedian Bridget Everett says that friendships deserve our attention, too. Onscreen and in everyday life. Last Fall, Everett appeared on Modern Love to talk about her HBO Original series “Somebody Somewhere,” which centers on a close friendship. Now she’s nominated for an Emmy Award for writing the show, along with Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen. In “Somebody Somewhere,” Everett stars as Sam, a woman struggling with grief and self-doubt after losing her sister. As Sam grows closer to her friend Joel — played by Jeff Hiller, an Outstanding Supporting Actor nominee — the future starts to look more bearable. In this episode of Modern Love, Everett tells Anna Martin why she’s looking for a friendship like the one Sam and Joel have on the show. She also reads a Modern Love essay called “When Your Greatest Romance Is a Friendship,” by Victor Lodato. Lodato was in his 40s when he fell into a platonic life partnership with an artist in her 80s, who lived across the street. In April 2024, Lodato published “Honey,” a novel inspired by Austin Brayfield, the friend he wrote about in his essay.