There’s just no letting up – the End of The World meme keeps snowballing, and while we expected Fox News to milk it (and they’ve only just begun, IMHO), it is a little bit surprising to see Scientific American to get it on the act. Numerous articles covering the topic are in this month’s issue, such as:

• Could modern civilization really come to an end? Experts take stock of eight doomsday scenarios (subscription required…)
• Why We’re Suckers for Stories of Our Own Demise

The latter begins with:

Once again, the world is about to end. The latest source of doomsday dread comes courtesy of the ancient Mayans, whose calendar runs out in 2012, as interpreted by a cadre of opportunistic authors and blockbuster movie directors.

This week I updated my list of possible doom’n'gloom scenarios that we might face in 2012, ie the end of the world in 2012. I’ve ranked them according to probability & predictability. Here’s the top 5:

1. Asteroid/Meteor/Comet (watch out for my article on this, that names the culprit!)
2. Coronal Mass Ejection
3. Magnetic Pole Shift
4. Cosmic Superwave
5. Religious Apocalypse (yep, this list lacks any personal bias…)

Read the full article for descriptions and links.