U.S. government confirms world won't end in 2012

 

The U.S. government is rebutting claims that the end is nigh.
"The world will not end on December 21, 2012, or any day in 2012," an unsigned USA.gov blog asserts.
Some New Age theorists believe that the ancient Mayan civilization predicted a late December doomsday for all of humanity. Others believe the date signifies the start of a new era. Their predictions are based on the idea that the Mayan Long Count calendar "ends" in 2012 — something that scholars say is a misrepresentation.
"False rumors about the end of the world in 2012 have been commonplace on the Internet for some time. Many of these rumors involve the Mayan calendar ending in 2012 (it won’t), a comet causing catastrophic effects (definitely not), a hidden planet sneaking up and colliding with us (no and no), and many others," the government asserts in the post.
"Unfortunately, these rumors have many people frightened, especially children," the blog post says, noting that NASA has gotten more than 1,000 letters from Americans concerned about the apocalypse.
"At least a once a week I get a message from a young person — as young as 11 — who says they are ill and/or contemplating suicide because of the coming doomsday," David Morrison, a planetary astronomer and senior scientist for NASA who answers questions from the public about astrobiology tells USA.gov.
The government's blog post, however, seems to leave open the possibility of doomsday occurring in 2013 or beyond.