NO SUCH THING

This week, we unpack what makes a generation. From the Silent Generation to the Zoomers and beyond, are these groupings only useful to stir up competition and resentment? How did Gen Z become more conservative, more pessimistic AND more empathetic than their predecessors? We also explore recent research on a troubling trend of declining IQ scores. Does this back up an argument that millennials are the group most well-equipped for life in the modern age?
Our guests this week are researcher Elizabeth M. Dworak from Northwestern University and Jean M. Twenge PhD, author of Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America's Future. (Buy the book here.)
Related links:
Dr. Dworak’s IQ research: Looking for Flynn effects in a recent online U.S. adult sample: Examining shifts within the SAPA Project
James Flynn’s TED Talk: Why our IQ levels are higher than our grandparents'
The New Yorker on Jean Twenge: Where Millennials Come From (2017)
Tom Wolfe for New York Magazine: The “Me” Decade (1976)
An interesting counterpoint, on Bobby Duffy’s “The Generation Myth”: It’s Time to Stop Talking About Generations
More on the Reverse Flynn Effect from New York Mag: A Theory of Dumb
You might also like NST #59: Kids can’t read anymore. Does it matter? (with author Jason Reynolds)
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This week, we're presenting a remastered version of our VERY FIRST EPISODE. Take a walk down NST memory lane, or visit for the first time, and stick around until the end to hear a quick conversation looking back on one of our earliest arguments.
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.
If you liked this episode, you might like NST #59: Kids can't read anymore. Does it matter? (with author Jason Reynolds)
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.
Buy Manny's book Colored People Time here!
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Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's the World Cup episode. Manny, Noah, and Devan, are joined by two of the hosts of the Soccernomics podcast — Stefan Szymanski and Ashish Malhotra — to discuss the overlap between Soccer, economics, and culture. Is soccer a form of human trafficking? What's the real reason why the English hate the word soccer? Why does the US men's soccer team struggle, historically? All of that and more.
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Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today’s episode, a special collaboration with Kate Lindsay from ICYMI, we discuss how payment apps like Venmo have changed our relationship with money. We talk through how to navigate different money situations with friends and answer your money etiquette questions.
Our guests this week are:
Lizzie Post, co-president of the Emily Post Institute and co-host of the Awesome Etiquette Podcast and Emily Post's Wedding Stories podcast.
Beth Pinsker, a columnist at MarketWatch, Certified Financial Planner, and author of My Mother's Money.
Listen to ICYMI with Kate Lindsay.
Check out Kate’s other episodes with the NST crew:
Why can’t adults order from the kids' menu?
Are outdoor cats happier than indoor cats?

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On today’s episode, we dive into the health effects of diet sodas like Diet Coke, Coke Zero, and Diet Pepsi. Trump has said that Diet Coke actually kills cancer, while other studies have linked these drinks to dementia and one of their artificial sweeteners, aspartame, to cancer. Noah also takes on the Fat Joe challenge, attempting to drink 30–40 Diet Pepsis in a single day.
Our guests this week are:
Michael Easter, diet soda head, journalist, and creator of the Two Percent podcast and newsletter.
Adam Chandler, food columnist at The Wall Street Journal.
Giles Yeo, author of Why Calories Don’t Count and a professor at the University of Cambridge who studies the genetics of body weight and how the brain controls feeding behavior.
If you’re new here, listen to episode 15: Why does Dasani water taste like that and check out our NST starter pack.
Check out our newsletter at nosuchthing.show and follow us on Instagram @nosuchthing.show.
Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at ‪(860) 325-0286
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.