You may have heard that the world is ending tomorrow. If not, we’re sorry to be the ones to break it to you. On the plus side if someone says to you "Don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world", you can snap back "Oh yes it is!"
The fact is there is some consternation over the Mayan Long calendar, and a cycle within it that by some counts ends this Friday. Enough people have interpreted the end of the cycle to mean the world is coming to end that both the Vatican and the US Government felt compelled to issue official assurances that it is not so…and you don’t have to cancel any plans you had for New Year’s Eve.
But because there is such a clamor over just what the calendar does indicate, VPR’s Mitch Wertlieb decided to ask a Vermonter who has both a particular interest and expertise in the Mayan calendar for some answers. Daisy McCoy is a professor of Mathematics at Lyndon State College and she says there’s confusion over what the Mayan Calendar predicts for December 21st for a very good reason.
Click listen to hear the audio.