Looks like we could be headed for the end of the world this summer, if a new interpretation of a Mayan calendar is to be believed.
To understand all this, we're going to need some back story. As the world clicked into the year 2012, there was a lot of talk that everything was going to come to an end on 21 December.
Yep, another of those apocalypse predictions that have a tendency to come to nothing. This one came from a calendar from the ancient Mayan civilisation, which predicted the end would come on that very date.
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Even the blockbuster Hollywood movie 2012 (made in 2009, confusingly) offered a take on the impending apocalypse, showing that Earth was going to go out with one hell of a big bang. The super volcano at Yellowstone National Park blows its top, the Earth-crust displacement begins and mega tsunamis erupt around the world, killing billions of people. Just a movie, mind you.
Naturally, because you're reading this right now, it means that the Mayan prophecy wasn't correct.
However, a researcher has claimed that we might not be out of the woods just yet, according to The Sun.
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Scientist and Fullbright scholar Paolo Tagaloguin posted a now-deleted tweet saying: "Following the Julian Calendar, we are technically in 2012...The number of days lost in a year due to the shift into Gregorian Calendar is 11 days... For 268 years using the Gregorian Calendar (1752-2020) times 11 days = 2,948 days. 2,948 days / 365 days (per year) = 8 years."
By those calculations, the Earth should be ending next week on 21 June. It was nice knowing you all.
But it's worth pointing out that NASA has previously commented on this and wants people to know that there's nothing to suggest the end of days is coming any time soon.
A spokesperson, seemingly fed up with people trying to predict Armageddon, said in a statement: "The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth.
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"This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 - hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012."
"For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact.
"There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012."
Well that's 2012 still in the clear - anyone else getting nervous about what this month may have in store...?
Featured Image Credit: Columbia Pictures