The news that 24-year-old Allyn Rose, Miss District of Columbia in this year's Miss America competition, is planning to have both of her breasts removed in the near future is the latest case of what we might call "extreme breast cancer prevention."

When you get fearless, your confidence rises. You trust yourself. And the best part? Fear takes a back seat and you can be up front in your life and choose the path you want to take without fear messing it up.

If you've ever called yourself a name or put yourself down or stopped yourself in any way, that is the ol' ring of fear that is holding your good back. Yes, your good. It's right there on the other side of fear.

Yep. We are here at the DIE Zone. It's not so scary once you get the hang of it. And I want you to know it inside out.

Risk is a necessity to being fearless. And it's a precursor to being happy. That's right. You heard me. You can't be happy if you aren't willing to risk.

Sometimes it works to take a calculated risk. Sometimes it doesn't. The challenge is to decide when you can't be wrong.

Numerous studies have shown that the general public has exaggerated perceptions of the health risks they face -- as well as exaggerated expectations of the benefit of medical care.

What is really irrational about arguing that people should be more rational about risks is the argument itself, that we should be reason-based thinkers who only use the facts to figure out what we should be afraid of.

Deep down inside, what the Egyptians are really after is a universal desire of people everywhere -- a feeling of control over their own lives.

Turns out the Year of Fear in Review tells us a lot about how our risk perception system works, and why we're more afraid of some lesser risks, and not afraid enough of some bigger ones.

We think of Spokane and Olympia as psychologically close because they're both in Washington, even though Olympia is actually much closer to Portland, Ore. The mapmaker in our neurons favors the category over actual proximity.