Well, maybe not the entire world. But, if NASA doomsayers are on point with their prediction, then my world will end in 2012. Why you ask? Well, NASA is foreseeing that the year 2012 will bring solar storms and flares, the likes of which Earth hasn’t seen since 1958. If we’ve been through this before, why am I so worried about my world ending? Because my world revolves around cell phones and similar gadgets – toys that were not around in the 50’s. While poodle-skirt wearing adolescents of yester-year went about their day unaffected by solar flares, my world will be filled with chaos and havoc when I can’t get any gsm reception or check the local weather on my phone. The horror! Can you see it? Millions of people will be left with no way to instantly text message their friends abut the night’s plans, and will be left wondering what the weather will be, or will be lost for directions to the nearest Starbuck’s. Oh the humanity!
Scientists are saying that the Sun’s surface is eerily devoid of activity at the moment. It’s “Like the quiet before a storm,” says NASA. When the sun’s surface quiets down, we can expect an incredible burst of activity in the form of communications disrupting solar flares and storms. This is referred to as a maxima in an 11-year cycle of sunspots. But there is one glimmer of hope. Scientists are unsure how to predict these maxima and admit that the upcoming maxima in 2012 could be as viscious as in 1958, or as meek as in 1805. We can “expect to see the first sunspots of the next cycle appear in late 2006 or 2007—and Solar Max to be underway by 2010 or 2011,” says David Hathaway of the National Space Science & Technology Center (NSSTC). So get ready or the end of the world, ya’ll! Stock those dry goods ands ammo! I’ll see you in my bunker.