Time Magazine recently featured an article examining why Americans worry about the things we shouldn't and often ignore the things we should. While statistics show that we are terrified of things like avian flu and mad cow disease, we consistently refuse to wear seatbelts when we ride in cars - a mistake responsible for about 31% of all vehicular fatalities - and consume enough cholesterol to kill 700,000 people every year. The article states, "20% of all adults still smoke... two-thirds of us are overweight or obese. [Yet] we dash across the street against the light and build our homes in hurricane-prone areas and when they're demolished by a storm, we rebuild in the same spot." Time offers a detailed analysis of the risk-assessment mechanisms of the brain, but why do you think Americans operate this way?