At the supermarket last week I picked up a copy of Time magazine for its cover story: Why We Worry About the Wrong Things, The Psychology of Risk, by Jeffrey Kluger. It’s an engaging but typically superficial article describing how people pay attention to certain potential risks while ignoring many more serious threats to their longevity and well-being. Describing our worries over hypothetical risks such as bird flu, mad cow, Muslim Imams, and contaminated lettuce, Kluger comments, "At the same time, 20% of all adults still smoke; nearly 20% of drivers and more than 30% of backseat passengers don’t use seat belts; two-thirds of us are overweight or obese." These are far more real risks that we have real control over, compared to the many threats that get public attention.