AP Photo

I am America’s amygdala. I reside in the temporal lobe of the human brain, near the hippocampus. There are two of me in each normal human brain, and we are both shaped like an almond, after which we are named. I am part of the limbic system. At the risk of oversimplifying things (which, by nature, I do not mind doing), I will tell you that I am the part of your brain which deals most directly with the production and processing of fear. I am in charge of America at the moment, and have been for some time.