"One reason we struggle with fear is that we’re simultaneously too primitive and too evolved for our own good. Our lizard brains are ruthlessly efficient: Signals speed to the threat-sensing amygdala within 74 milliseconds of the slightest hint of danger. This speed has, over eons, helped save us from extinction. But it’s also led to plenty of false alarms."

"Our higher consciousness is supposed to help us sort out these threats, but at times it seems more committed to spinning out anxious what-ifs about imperiled loved ones and unattended stoves. An entire body of risk-perception research has detailed just how bad we are at figuring out which dangers are worth worrying about. We tend to overestimate the threat of dying by lightning, flood, or murder, while underestimating the much more immediate threats posed by asthma, stroke, and diabetes, among other unsexy hazards."