You've probably heard about the Mayan carvings that predict the year 2012 will be our last. Supposedly, the war and creation god Bolon Yokte will return, bringing with him certain doom. Scholars have been trying to tamp down those claims, saying that's an erroneous interpretation of the Mayan calendar, but it hasn't silenced the Chicken Littles.
The end of the world isn't really news anymore. Last year California pastor Harold Camping predicted that the world would end May 21. When the rapture didn't come, he revised his doomsday prophecy to Oct. 21. That day also came and went without even a hint of Armageddon.
Religious fanatics consider the beginning and end of the world to be their exclusive domain, which endlessly frustrates secularists and some scientists. When someone suggested to British evolutionary biologist and strident atheist Richard Dawkins that he pose questions about the big bang to a chaplain, Dawkins responded, "Why not the gardener or the chef?"