There ’s adifferencebetween a fear and a full - blownphobia . The first is regard a natural reaction to a real or perceive threat , and the latter is an irrational response to something that ’s not really a hazard . But some fears feel like they fall somewhere in the heart . They ’re real scourge ; they ’re just not likely to pass off . fuel by medium , movie , and myth , these fears do n’t pose much possible peril when compared with everyday dangers like driving a railcar or smoking .
There are thing we ’re all a little ( or lot ) afraid of , but the phone number tell us we do n’t need to be . Read on for more statistically soothe details about some of the most common , but not commonly occurring , worry .
Being Bitten by a Shark
Chances:1 in 4,332,817of dying by shark in your lifetime .
Thanks toJaws , two melodious note still strike a chord of terror in many hoi polloi . Prior to the movie ’s waiver in 1975 , however , peopleweren’t all that afraidof go into the water . And before the 20th C , people were n’t spending much recreational time in the body of water at all .
Scientists did n’t gravely studysharksuntil the forties when U.S. military surgical operation in marine environments made them more of a concern . Through a secret program called “ Shark Chaser , ” the U.S. Navy make a chemical repellant that was handed out to personnel department until the seventies . Though it waslargely ineffective , with users stating shark seemed unconcerned , it was considered unspoilt than nothing .
Yet data compile since the fifties suggest shark loathly may not be completely necessary . The International Shark Attack File ( ISAF ) , show in 1958 , is the globe ’s only scientific database of shark flak . Its researchers are currently investigating approximately 6800 cases cover a time period from the 1500s to today . In 2024 specifically , the ISAFreviewed88 so-called shark - human interactions , confirm 47 “ unprovoked ” bites and only 24 “ plague ” bites , despite zillion of mass swimming , surfing , and boating in the seas each twelvemonth .
So we ’re far more likely to be struck by lightning ( more on that later ) than bitten by a shark — and they have more reason to fear us than vice versa . Humans down an estimated100 million sharkseach twelvemonth allot to the International Fund for Animal Welfare , making us the more seriously minatory species .
Getting Hit by an Asteroid
Chances:1 in 1,600,000of dying by asteroid .
The only mortal known to have been come to by an asteroid ( technically , it was a meteorite ) was a 34 - year - old fair sex namedAnn Hodges , who wasbonkedwhile sleeping in layer in 1954 . She survived with a giant bruise and an article inLIFEmagazine . A elevator car , a Connecticut dining elbow room , and the Russian city ofChelyabinskhave also been damage by settle space junk in the last century .
Some scientists arrogate we ’re overdue for a bang of pregnant size of it . The betting odds go up and down for specific asteroids : Researchers latterly upgraded one identify 2024 YR4 from a 1 - in-83 to a 1 - in-43 likeliness of stumble Earth in 2032 ( which is still a solid97.7 pct chanceof a miss)—thendowngradedthe odds to near zero . Generally , we ’re below a 1 pct chance of shock for any known near - Earth objects ( NEOs ) ; there ’s also a 70 percentage chance of such an objective land in the sea and a 25 percent chance of it avoiding a heavily populated field . allot to a2022 studyin the journalFutures , the overall probability of a giant , humanity - obliterating impact is between 0.03 to 0.3 on a scale of zero to one , with zero signify it will definitely not happen and one meaning it absolutely will .
Contracting a Brain-Eating Amoeba
chance : Less than1 in 34,000,000 in the U.S.
have your learning ability invade by a killer amoeba is a terrific medical prognosis . The one - celled organismNaegleria fowlericauses main amebic meningoencephalitis ( PAM ) , which infects and then put down brain tissue and is nigh always fatal . However , the CDC register only 164 case in the U.S. between 1962 and 2023 .
This ameba lives in soil and warm freshwater , include lakes , rivers , pool , blistering springs , and foul tap water . It is n’t line up in properly treat piss , such as swim pools , or the seawater of seas and oceans . You ’re not in danger of swallowing it .
To gap the brain , water containingN. fowlerimust go up the nozzle , so this commonly occurs after someone submerges their headspring in a body of fresh water or perhaps rinses their fistula with a tool like aneti pot(using water that was n’t boiled first ) . Infections are even more likely after the weather ’s been hot for a while . thawing temperaturesrelated to clime changeare prompting greater concern among public health official , but PAM remain rare , and people can take simple precautions like using a nozzle clip when swimming .
Crashing in an Airplane
luck : About1 in 13.7 millionpassenger boardings .
Studies have suggest that up to40 percentof multitude in industrialized countries have a fear of pilot . Despite the turbulent tales and scary headline , fly is still the secure figure of travel , much safer than take a automobile . So why are so many so afraid ?
There are several constituent likely at drama : From a fear of heights ( commercial-grade flights operate at 30,000 to 42,000 foot above sea level ) , to the lack of personal command ( we passengers sure are n’t piloting the aircraft ) , to safety ( such as the plane ’s manufacturer and its recent safety record book ) , there ’s more than just flying when it do to flying . And we all get a line about it when there ’s an air - relate accident .
There ’s comfort in the statistic , which keep get better . From 1968 to 1977 , the odds of an emergence were 1 per 350,000 boarding , which improved to 1 per 750,000 from 1978 to 1987 . Safely arriving by plane has continued to advance over several decades , demonstrating thatMoore ’s law of aviation — positing that air travel has become twice as safe each decennary since the sixties — is considerably truthful .
Getting Struck by Lightning
Chances : Less than1 in 1 millionin a yield year .
Lightning strikes are rare , and despite a individual spark being comprised ofseveral million volts(in comparison , the electric flow in your dwelling house is only 120 volts ) , most who are struck survive .
According to the CDC , 40 million lightning strikes touch down in the U.S. annually , but the odds of being whop by prosy electricity are gloomy , with the likelihood of getting hit more than once exponentially less . And even without knowing a bolt of lightning is going to affect a clock tower atprecisely 10:04 p.m.on a specific Saturday night , we can for certain recognize the weather conditions that fuel lightning and take theNational Weather Service ’s advice : “ when thunder howl , go indoors . ” If you ca n’t get inside , the agency propose other action , like getting low-spirited on the flat coat and avoiding alloy objects [ PDF ] .
Shenandoah National Park rangerRoy C. Sullivanclaimed a not - so - covet criminal record precisely because he did n’t heed any of the above tips . He holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the most lightning tap — a amount of seven between 1942 and 1977 . Based in Virginia ’s Blue Ridge Mountains , Sullivan worked outdoors near lookout towers and the like in a state that receives an average of 35 to 45 electric storm days per class .
Getting Sucked into Quicksand
chance : Almost none .
accord tojournalist Daniel Engber writing in Slate , movies from the 1960s were most saturated with killer quicksand , featuring in 35 photographic film . Although it was a popular method of remove villains and dealing heroes a death - defying chance , in realness , it ’s rare to stumble onto sink gumption . If asked what to do about it , most people would probably suggest stay put still and not struggling , but science aver it would n’t really happen the way we ’ve seen in the movies .
Quicksandis denser than we are , so we swim instead of immediately pass . Experts recommend distributing your torso ’s weight over a wider area by incline backward and thus slowing the sinking process . Moving carefully , you’re able to eventually ferment your way out of the ooze , but it takes sentence . Theforce requiredto extract your foot at a pace of less than half an inch per second is about the same as what ’s needed to elevate 3000 pounds .
The genuine danger of quicksand is due to where it ’s found . Because quicksand is generally comprised of sodden sand or clay near a body of water , like a river delta , being adhere for too long may result in drowning from a tide come up in and pee levels rising . As 20 - class - onetime serviceman submerge in Alaska in 2023 after being irretrievably stuck in silt and overrun by the tide .
Experiencing an Elevator Free-Fall
Chances : Nearly zero .
legal action moving-picture show also have made us afraid of lift , but advanced machines have multiple condom systems — backup cables , pinch braking systems , and barb stoppers — making accidents rare . late events involving fateful elevator free - falls have occurred at construction sites or mine , rather than among the oecumenical public in office buildings .
elevator amount intwo fashion model : grip elevator and hydraulic elevators . Using brand cables , pulleys , and counterweights , adhesive friction elevators have a speed - sense mechanism , and each cable television service is strong enough on its own to hold the automobile . Hydraulic elevator use a piston jack and they are n’t often find in edifice taller than six narrative . But if the worst comes to pass in any lift and you start to free - fall , the recommendation is tolie flaton your back on the floor of the car and hope for the best .
Betty Lou Oliver , a 20 - twelvemonth - old elevator operator , wasanother dubious Guinness World Recordholder . In 1945 , Oliver was wound when a B-25 bomber accidentally struck the Empire State Building , causing Betty to destitute - fall for 75 taradiddle ( around 1000 feet ) in the car . She bottomed out in the cellar and suffer injuries to her cervix , back , and pelvis , but she recover after a few months in the hospital .
Being Buried Alive
luck : nigh to zero , but not zero .
Again , flick . But also , reality . The fear of being buried alive was so usual in the 18th and 19th centuries thatcoffins were equippedwith “ I ’m actually alert ” alarms . Allegedly , embalming and cremationbecame popularmeans to quash being buried alive .
While there is no evidence of anyone being immerse active in the preceding several years , aesculapian workers have failed to accurately ascertain deathas late as 2023 . There ’s at least one medical explanation for such rare cases , called “ theLazarus effect , ” where a person is unresponsive to CPR , they cease breathing , and their philia block beat — only for them to spontaneously recreate minutes or sometimes hours later . Since beingdescribedin aesculapian lit for the first prison term in 1982 , only76 caseshave been describe worldwide ( as of 2022 ) .
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