Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.

Flu season has arrived again, and we still lack mainstream communication systems about risk levels and how to protect ourselves from seasonal viruses and emerging threats like bird flu. In this episode of “The Opinions,” the epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers argues that public health professionals should take a page from meteorologists and broadcast virus reports like weather reports.

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.

The New York Times Opinion columnist Thomas Friedman and the Opinion editor Daniel Wakin discuss how and why the United States should use its influence in Syria following the ousting of its longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com

The New York Times Opinion columnist David French, a lifelong evangelical, speaks to Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and an atheist, about the role of Christianity in redeeming and supporting American democracy.

Is there a movie, a book, a meme, a memory, a hobby you took up or a vice you quit that stayed with you this year, or helped you unwind and forget about it all? Times Opinion wants to hear about it.

Leave us a voice memo at theopinions@nytimes.com. We need your name, phone number, and where you’re calling from. Tell us what you’re holding onto, and why, as you head into 2025. You may get to hear your pick in an upcoming episode.

The political scientist Robert A. Pape has studied political violence for the past 30 years. In this episode of “The Opinions,” he describes what his research illuminates about the homicide of United Healthcare’s chief executive, Brian Thompson. Pape also explains why he is not surprised by the background of Luigi Mangione, who has been charged with the killing.