With the fast approach of December 21st, many people are beginning to panic about the end of the world. Over the years, there have been several conspiracy theories about the apocalypse, dating back to the time of the Ancient Romans. Almost every year, people have been predicting events that would end life as we know it. Every year, those people are proven wrong. What makes the theory about December 21st, 2012 any different?

The December 21st theory is actually not only one theory. It is several theories mixed together. The only thing the individual theories have in common is the date and that they state a way the world will end. The reason this date was chosen was because the Mayan calendar supposedly ends in 2012. Because, the Mayans had been fairly accurate in determining the dates of previous events in history, people chose to believe that the end of the world would be on December 21st, 2012. In truth, the Mayan calendar does not end on that day. It is only the end of a marking period on their Long Count Calendar called a B’ak’tun. They believed that the end of a B’ak’tun was the end of an era, but it did not end in the end of life. It is only the start of a new era, just like what we celebrate every year on January 1st. In short, the theory that the Armageddon is coming at the end of a Mayan counting period is incorrect.

A common idea that people have is that giant solar flares will wipe out the earth. According to NASA, solar flares have a regular schedule. About every eleven years, the sun is its most active and has larger and more frequent flares. This means any person who is at least eleven years old has experienced this. None of these solar flares has been effective enough to hurt anyone more than their GPS signal being a little off. Scientists have no reason to believe that a solar flare will do any more than that, since the earth’s atmosphere has a protective magnetic field that has been protecting it for millions of years. Also, the sun isn’t predicted to be at its most active until late 2013 into early 2014, putting this theory to rest.

For ages humans have been predicting the end. Perhaps it’s because people like to be prepared. Or maybe they’re just overly dramatic. No matter why people predict things such as the end of the world, there has never been any scientific evidence to support these theories. Whatever the case, the only thing close to the end of the world this December is forgetting to buy your great aunt Sally a Christmas present.