Johnny Harris

The global economy is changing. Countries are realizing that while economic interdependence has brought significant peace to the world, it can also mean supplying the military rise of your biggest rivals.

Americans and Swiss citizens have some of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, but their gun cultures differ wildly. One country has seen over 500 mass shootings in 2023 alone, while the other has had less than a handful over the past twenty years. To understand why there’s such a stark difference between these two countries’ gun cultures, we traveled to Switzerland to see how each of these cultures started, and where they began to part ways.

Drones are dominating the face of the war in Ukraine. From intel gathering and spying to loitering munitions and propaganda, drones are a versatile tool on the battlefield. To keep up with changing battlefield conditions and to keep their soldiers well equipped, everyday Ukrainians are using their engineering skills to create drone labs across the country. This is their story.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas is moving to a full scale ground invasion, which could lead to a massive regional war. Because this isn’t just a war between Israel and Hamas- other countries, militaries, and militias are watching what’s happening in Gaza, and they all have their own agendas.

In 2017, the Rohingya people in Myanmar faced a genocide brought on by Buddhist extremists and the military. But something else was fueling the violence, inciting people, and spreading hatred - Facebook and their algorithm was helping tear the country apart. Over 700,000 Rohingya people fled violence perpetrated by the military in their home country of Myanmar in 2017, seeking safety in neighboring Bangladesh. The majority of them continue to live, years later, in Kutupalong Refugee Camp. Since the beginning of this crisis, UNICEF has been working with the Bangladesh government and other partners to deliver relief to children and families living in the refugee camps and settlements and in neighboring host communities. Help UNICEF continue to support Rohingya refugee children and families. Your donation can make a difference.

Olive oil has been adored by people for millennia. It’s like the perfect food, it’s healthy and delicious. But there is also a darker side to it, a side that involves widespread corruption and Italian Mafia bosses.

This is the second episode of the Eyes Only series - where we use leaked and declassified documents to understand what’s really happening behind the scenes. Answering questions like: How do politicians wield their influence? What can documents teach us about their decisions and motivations? And what do the powerful say to each other when they think nobody is listening? In this episode, we explore the run up to the Iraq war, and how the invasion of Iraq and removal of Saddam Hussein was planned within hours of the attacks on 9/11. We use leaked and declassified documents to tell the story of an influence campaign waged by senior Bush Administration officials, despite internal reports admitting that they had no evidence of WMD in Iraq.

The world is connected by just 500 cables. America is spying on them, China is building out a competing network, Russia is threatening to break them, and everyone else is caught in the middle.

The world is changing quickly. Countries are starting to challenge the US-led world order that emerged after World War 2. Countries like China and Russia are hoping to create their own system, based on their own rules and values, and the world’s most important growing economies are taking notice.

Ready or not, deep fakes are here to stay. Deep fakes are going to change the way we trust information around us and even each other. The question is - are we prepared for the threat they cause while being able to harness their potential for good?

The US military is planning to have a transformative year in the Pacific. To them, that means militarizing the region. More ships, more planes, more troops, more missiles, and more agreements with allies - all aimed at containing China and their ambitions of power.

In part 2 of “How the U.S. Stole America,” we look at how Oklahoma could have looked a lot different.

Evidence is mounting that US senators and members of Congress are using insider knowledge on major policy decisions and looming crises to game the stock market. And they think it’s totally okay.

Surviving in Greenland's Wild North. I set out on a journey to the high north to meet the Inuit communities that brave the harshest winters in the world. This documentary is my attempt to bring their story to you.

The race to the North Pole took 300 years and ended in two men pitted against each other, in an attempt to convince the world who had got their first. But one of them was lying.

Our financial system is pretty wild.

Seeing the billion dollar jackpots pop up all over the news had me wondering: why does the government run the lottery and what do they do with all that money?

Ever wonder why your mom made you drink so much milk as a kid? Turns out the answer is a lie.

The US perfected the art of the coup to push out leaders it didn’t like and install leaders it did. In this story I go through some of the major US-led coups to explore how the US rose to power and stayed there.

Hundreds of military submarines lurk in the depths of our oceans with enough nuclear weapons to destroy entire countries. Let’s talk about it.

It turns out there’s a very good reason for why I, the breakfast snob, crave Doritos for breakfast.

Hunting for Switzerland’s Hidden Mountain Fortresses. I went to Switzerland to hunt for bunkers, something I’ve been planning and dreaming about for years. The result wasn’t just a wild trip through the mountains. It was an uncovering of something much deeper: the story of this peculiar country and the cost and benefits of choosing neutrality.

The Merge, Explained. Things are changing in Crypto. Here’s how to think about it.

The REAL Reason Qatar is Hosting the World Cup

The modern corporation was invented as a way to fuel imperialism. In Part 2 of our series on European imperialism we explore how Europe created private empires to help spread dominance and resource extraction across the globe.

72 Hours Exploring "The Scariest Place on Earth". The Border of North and South Korea can seem like a scary place. And yet, in the US we tend to think of everything wrong. In this piece, I jump into an alternative approach to the modern history of this conflict and try to understand why South Koreans aren’t nearly as afraid of North Korea as Americans are.

I Mapped Every Day of the Ukraine War

Subway has somehow taken over K-Dramas with some very on-the-nose product placement. I looked into it and discovered a pretty fascinating story about media, money, and foot-long sandwiches.

I wanted to know why the bread in Europe tastes so much better than the bread in America, so I went to Paris to find out.

I'm hearing a lot about inflation lately, so I want to break it down. What it is. Why it happens and it means for all of us. I hope this is helpful!

Julian Assange has a long, complicated past. But regardless of what you think of him and what he did, you should care about what happens to him. Here’s why.

We’re hearing a lot about sanctions against Russia. But what even are sanctions and will they work in pushing Putin out of Ukraine?

This is Putin’s war and to understand it you have to look at the story Putin tells himself and the Russian people that helped justify this invasion. In this video I explore Putin’s motive and make the case that Russia has already lost this war.

War is heating up on the border of Ukraine and Russia. To understand what’s going on you have to understand what Vladimir Putin really wants.

Is Crypto All Hype? Let’s Debate. From cryptocurrencies to NFTs, crypto seems as though it's here to stay - but is that a good thing? To find out, I debated.. myself.

I went to a country that ‘doesn’t exist’ at least on the map. But it’s a place that sure feels like a real country. Being here is a reminder that international relations can often ignore the realities on the ground, and the people who live in these places. For me it’s important to not just look at these places on a map but to go and see them. Feel them. Talk to the people who live there. That’s what this fourth and final episode from Cyprus is about. I hope you enjoy.

In episode 2 of Cyprus, Uncharted, we go into the last divided city in Europe and the last divided capital on earth: Nicosia where a thick green line cuts the city in half. I talk to the people who live with this division every day to better understand how it feels life on a divided island.

Why the the US is still an empire

Why I haven't washed my hair in 5 years

Check out Rashiq's interactive map of McDonalds Ice cream machines: https://mcbroken.com/

The story of how Skid Row came to be

Where was Justin Timberlake during all of this?

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died in prison, the country's prison service said. He was 47.

It's a story of a certain type of capitalism . This video is a story about China, past to present. But in telling the story of the Rise of China (and Asia generally), it's impossible to not talk about fundamental lessons that have emerged. In this video I try to tell the story but then also look back and at the result of it all. To examine the data and see what effects our global economic system has had on people and the planet. The data is clear that our model of capitalism has some major winners. But it also produces some important losers, those who have lost out or have been damaged by these trends. One major loser of the this system is the future generations of people who will live on a planet with more extreme and volatile weather and ocean patterns. All of this calls for a rethinking of our capitalism. Not to scrap it all together, but to upgrade it to a version that benefits all of society and doesn't threaten our planet and future generations.

The main lessons I’ve learned over the past seven years

My workflow, 8 years in the making.

How the US invented a country in Africa to hide its secrets

My deep dive into the science and math of masks.

A little island at the center of a blurry border.

An opinion video at The New York Times: How America Bungled the Plague | NYT Opinion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBGShUmEAFA

Thanks for the wild ride, Vox. And thank you all for the support over these years.

How bird poop expanded the borders of the United States

The story of many months working on a very complicated goal.

How a group of Jesus-loving sugar warriors took over an island nation.

How the USA took European food and turned it into morning dessert.

Why the Swiss put bombs in their borders.

How can we possibly measured the distance to things a quadrillion km away?

How to map something you can't see

Strange enclaves, peninsulas, and some pretty big mistakes between Canada and the USA.

It's not just about the shape of the globe.

We're inventing a new way of learning to travel: Brighttrip.com

It has to do with trains, map makers, and politics.

This is the story of my summer and the reflections I've had.

Most of your life you just can't remember. This video explores how I organize pictures. You probably have more pictures than you know what to do with. Phones are amazing for taking lots of shots but often the result is too many photos. I have been thinking about how to organize photos for a really long time and this is my workflow to best remember your life by using photos. It uses cloud based storage between my phone and computer to help me see my photos often and it also uses some guiding concepts that help me delete more photos and better enjoy the ones I keep around. I hope this helps at least one person better remember their lives.

The Power and Problems with Cliché

There's an economic reason why everyone is going to Iceland lately.

How video went from hobby to job for me.