David Ropeik is a consultant in risk perception and risk communication. He is co-author of Risk: A Practical Guide for Deciding What's Really Safe and What's Really Dangerous in the World Around You, and author of How Risky Is It, Really? Why Our Fears Don't Match The Facts. He is a former instructor at the Harvard School of Public Health and was co-director of the HSPH continuing education course "The Risk Communication Challenge." Prior to joining Harvard in 2000, Ropeik was a TV reporter in Boston for 22 years, specializing in coverage of environmental issues. He twice won the Columbia DuPont Award, often cited as the Pulitzer Prize of broadcast journalism. He has a bachelor's and a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University, is a potter by hobby, and can't get past the hard level on bass on the easy songs on Rock Band.