Mayan calendar predicts end of the world today, claim conspiracy theorists

The coronavirus outbreak across the world has already turned half of 2020 into a disaster, and the latest conspiracy theories of the Mayan calendar's 'doomsday' have just worsen the problems.

There are conspiracy theorists who claim that the world will end today, ie, June 21, as per the Mayan calendar.

The Mayan calendar came into existence in 1582 and people used different calendars to keep a track of dates before this. At the time, the two of the most popular calendars were the Mayan and Julian calendars.

Although, the majority of people around the globe presently follow the Gregorian calendar. As per experts, the Gregorian calendar was introduced to better reflect the time it takes Earth to orbit the Sun. 

However, a lot of people believe that as many as 11 days were lost from the year that was once determined by the Julian calendar.

Scientist Paolo Tagaloguin, in a now-deleted tweet, reportedly said, “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."

If we follow this theory, June 21, 2020, would actually be December 21, 2012, and notably, the December 21, 2012 'doomsday' was proposed by some conspiracy theorists as the end of the world.

Fortunately, that didn't happen, and almost 8 years later, the conspiracy theorists have come up with a new date now, which is June 21.

Although several events in 2020 have not been less than an apocalypse, noted scientists have brushed aside the doomsday claims.

Earlier, the National Aeronautics Space Administration had commented on 2012 doomsday and said, “The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. 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.”

The space agency had also added, "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."