This week, we take a break from our regular format to discuss some of our favorite things from the past year. This is the first of a new format we're calling NST Chats: loose, informal, and much more casual than our typical rigorous reporting, fine editing, and high-powered analysis. We promise to hit the ground running in 2025 with a return to our usual style, next Tuesday!

NST Selects: 2024 Playlist on Spotify and Apple Music

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The past decade has seen a resurgence of political violence: January 6, multiple attempts on Trump’s life, and of course the killing of United Healthcare’s CEO are just a few notable examples. We spoke with University of Chicago Professor Robert A. Pape, who has studied political violence for decades, to understand this disturbing trend, the public’s reaction to it, and why he thinks it's here to stay.

Read Pape’s New York Times Op-Ed: What the Glorification of Luigi Mangione Reveals About America

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What if this ONE thing we’ve always been told about horses isn’t true at all? What if it’s a lie we’ve told ourselves so that we can enjoy our horseback riding vacations and Kentucky Derbies without guilt?

To answer this question we speak with Ren Hurst, a former professional horse trainer and author of “The Wisdom of Wilderness.” And we venture to New Jersey to spend some time with horses at the Bergen County Horse Rescue.

The end credits music is "I’ve Always Been the First (to Say I Love you)" by Certain Self.

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Certain taboo words have recently crept back into common use across private conversation, on social media, and in mainstream entertainment, seemingly all along the political spectrum. In this episode, we explore why slurs are making a comeback, featuring Business Insider deputy executive editor Mia de Graaf.

Business Insider: The return of the slur

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Do you think you’d be able to successfully land a plane, with no prior pilot experience and relying only on air traffic control assistance? A YouGov survey found 13% of people are “very confident” that they could. In this episode, we explore why some people (like Manny) are prone to overconfidence, with help from social psychologist and professor David Dunning.

Outro song is "Nothing Ever Happens" by Darryl Rahn

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What began as an innocent debate soon devolved into accusations of deception and trickery. Is it misleading to say you read a book if, in actuality, you listened to it as an audiobook? And do you absorb information the same way when listening compared to reading? With some help from Dr. Virginia Clinton-Lisell, Associate Professor at University of North Dakota, we get an answer.

Here’s a link to Dr. Clinton-Lisell’s meta-analysis of reading and listening comprehension comparisons. She’s on TikTok, YouTube, Threads, and Bluesky.

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This is the trailer for NO SUCH THING, a new podcast by Manny Fidel, Noah Friedman, and Devan Joseph. Our two-episode premiere drops on Tuesday, November 26.

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If you have any questions you’d like us to get to the bottom of, email us at [email protected].

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