Have you ever heard a horrible story and thought to yourself: This will never happen to me? Scientists at University College London said about 80% of people were optimists, even if they would not label themselves as such. The study suggests the brain is very good at processing good news about the future. In some people, anything negative is practically ignored - with them retaining a positive world view. Also known as unrealistic optimism, this ability of human brain influences categories ranging from personal relationships, to politics and economy. It is still unknown how people maintain unrealistic optimism, despite frequent negative news surrounding them. It seems the brain hears only what it wants to hear, choosing the more optimistic aspect of the news. At the study, 14 people were tested for the level of their optimism in a brain scanner while being asked about the likelihood of 80 bad events to happen; such as a divorce, car accident, cancer, etc. They were then informed about the actual likelihood of each event happening to an average person, and underwent the brain scanner again answering the same questions. There was a marked difference in the updated scores of optimists depending on whether the reality was good or bad news. For example, the risk of cancer was set at 30%. If the patient thought their risk was 40% in the first experiment, at the end of the experiment they downgraded their own risk to about 31%. However, if the patient originally thought their risk was 10%, they only marginally increased their risk, maintaining their own optimistic beliefs on the matter, and choosing not to pick the negative reality to be happening to them. FTV