Conspiracy theories and sensational stories on the Internet are hoaxes: NASA scientist

17 December, 2012

The occasional doomsday hype and related con job had been going on for centuries and had been proved wrong every time. Scientists don't have the remotest evidence for the 21-12-12 disaster and are calling it a hoax that will be exposed on December 22, 2012.

DAVID MORRISON, Director, Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe and NASA's senior scientist, has assured people that the world was not facing any life ending threat and so-called Maya prophecy of the end of the world on December 21, 2012 was just a hoax.

The Internet rumours have done enough damage after some recent opinion polls suggested that one in ten Americans worry about whether they will survive past December 21 of this year, and middle-school teachers everywhere report that many of their students are fearful of a coming apocalypse. There is a need to counter the rumours.

Such rumours have even caused an acute fear of the cosmos among children, which is being called 'Cosmophobia'. Morrison said, "Many young people write to me that they are scared of astronomy. When they read about some new discovery, the first thing they think is that it might hurt them, even if it is happening in a distant galaxy. There is no reason for such fears, which I call cosmophobia (fear of the universe). This rash of concern seems to be the result of too many conspiracy theories and sensational stories featured on the Internet and irresponsible news outlets."

According to Morrison, the good news is that the astronomical objects are so distant that they cannot threaten the Earth. "Please don't be afraid of the Sun or the planets or comets or asteroids. The universe is not your enemy," assured Morrison.