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David Ropeik

Big Think Contributor, "Risk, Reason & Reality"

I'm an Instructor at Harvard, a consultant in risk perception and risk communication, author of How Risky Is it, Really? Why Our Fears Don't Always Match the Facts, and principal co-author of RISK, A Practical Guide for Deciding What's Really Safe and What's Really Dangerous in the World Around You. I run a program called Improving Media Coverage of Risk. I was the Director of Risk Communication at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, part of the Harvard School of Public Health, for 4 years, prior to which I was a TV reporter, specializing in environmental issues, for a local station in Boston for 22 years.


John Silber just passed away. He accomplished many things…made Boston University into an internationally recognized academic institution, served as Chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education…but he also taught an […]
 The United States has already suffered the worst outbreak of West Nile virus ever, with more than 1,100 people ill and 41 dead. And more illness and death are yet […]
     Want to live a longer healthier life? Chill out. And stop lying. For the same reason. Stress is really REALLY bad for your health.             Chronic stress is bad […]
      Derecho Alert!!!!!! AAAIIIGGGHHH!!!! Grab the kids! Run for the basement, quick!       As this is being written a line of severe thunderstorms is sweeping across sections of the Northeast […]
      It’s a Mean Mean Mean Mean World. Just ask the people in Aurora, Colorado. Or the people in Colombine, Colorado. Or the people of Port Arthur, Australia, where a […]
            The FDA has banned bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles in sippy cups.             The FDA has not banned BPA for use in food containers.             Huh?             What […]
      Fireworks are really cool to watch, but to me, the best part is watching them with thousands of other people who have all come together with the same purpose…to […]
      Egypt has a civilian president. For most of us….so what. These are distant events, physically and emotionally, without much meaning and certainly with little personal relevance for […]
            My father, a journalist, died a few days ago. He taught me that journalism is not just a job but a calling, a high form of public service. I […]