NASA seems to be doing everything in its power to assure Americans that the world is not going to end on December 21, like some Mayan calendar conspiracies want you to think. A senior NASA scientist appeared on Current TV's Cenk Uygur and reiterated, "There's no cosmic catastrophe coming."
For weeks the space agency has tried to calm growing concerns gripping the country over the alleged doomsday. Last month, it published a FAQ to answer any and all questions regarding the conspiracy theories and stated that people should not worry about the end of the Earth.
During the show, senior scientist David Morrison said that the space agency has heard from a multitude of people who are concerned about the alleged doomsday and are considering suicide. Morrison added that a new poll suggests that up to 25 million Americans believe the apocalypse is upon us.
However, it isn't just Americans that are worried about the impending doomsday based on misconceptions on the Mayan calendar. In Russia, authorities have had to issue official statements to calm citizens after a series of bizarre events linked to the hysteria occurred. In France, police have had to set guard over a sacred mountain in the southwest that is said to open up to an alien spacecraft that will save nearby humans on the day of the apocalypse.
While some countries have taken the serious route to ease their citizen's nerves, Australia has done the opposite. In conjunction with a radio station, Prime Minister Julia Gillard created a spoof video proclaiming that the world will definitely end on December 21.
The hysteria and concern stem from widely held misconceptions of the Mayan calendar, which will end its thirteenth 349-year cycle on December 21. According to the conspiracies, the Earth will be plagued by both geological and celestial disasters on that day.