A painting of everyday life in a Maya village. Illustration by H. Tom Hall, National Geographic John Roach for National Geographic News Published De

Monument text's "poetic flourish" confuses modern minds, experts say.

A painting of everyday life in a Maya village.

Illustration by H. Tom Hall, National Geographic

John Roach

for National Geographic News

Published December 20, 2011

It's remotely possible the world will end in December 2012. But don't credit the ancient Maya calendar for predicting it, say experts on the Mesoamerican culture.

(Related pictures: "2012 Doomsday Myths Debunked.")

It's true that the so-called long-count calendar—which spans roughly 5,125 years starting in 3114 B.C.—reaches the end of a cycle on December 21, 2012.

That day brings to a close the 13th Bak'tun, an almost 400-year period in the Maya long-count calendar.

But rather than moving to the next Bak'tun, the calendar will reset at the end of the 13th cycle, akin to the way a 1960s automobile would click over at mile 99,999.9 and reset to zero.

"We, of course, know that really means a hundred thousand [miles] and not zero," said William Saturno, an expert on Maya archaeology at Boston University.

"So, is [the end of Bak'tun 13] a large period ending? Yes. Did the Maya like period endings? Yes," Saturno said.

"Would this have been a period ending they thought was wicked cool? You bet. The biggest period endings they experience are Bak'tun endings."

But "was it predicted to be the end the world? No. That's just us."

Instead, for the Maya, the end of the long count represents the end of an old cycle and the beginning of a new one, according to Emiliano Gallaga Murrieta, the Chiapas state division director of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.

"It is like for the Chinese, this is the Year of the [Rabbit], and the next year is going to the Year of the Dragon, and the next is going to be another animal in the calendar," Gallaga said.

(Watch the full episode of 2012: Countdown to Armageddon online from the National Geographic Channel.)

Maya Prophecy for End of the World?

Written references to the end of Bak'tun 13 are few. In fact, most Maya scholars cite only one: a stone tablet on Monument 6 at the Tortuguero archaeological site in Mexico's Tabasco state. (Take a Maya quiz.)

What exactly the tablet says, though, is a mystery, because the glyphs in question are partially damaged.

Nevertheless, scholars have taken several stabs at translations, the most prominent in 1996 by Brown University's Stephen Houston and the University of Texas at Austin's David Stuart.

Houston and Stuart's initial interpretation indicated that a god will descend at the end of Bak'tun 13. What would happen next is uncertain, although the scholars suggested this might have been a prophecy of some sort.

This 1996 analysis was picked up "on many New Age websites, associated forum discussions, and even a few book chapters" as evidence that the Maya calendar had predicted the end of the world, according to Stuart.

(See "2012 Prophecies Sparking Real Fears, Suicide Warnings.")

Houston and Stuart, however, independently revisited the glyphs recently and concluded that the inscription may actually contain no prophetic statements about 2012 at all.

Rather, the mention of the end of Bak'tun 13 is likely a forward-looking statement that refers back to the main subject of the inscription, which is the dedication of Monument 6.

In an October blog post about his conclusions, Stuart makes an analogy to a scribe wanting to immortalize the New York Yankees' 1950 sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies in that year's World Series.

If this writer were to use the Maya rhetorical device thought to be in Monument 6's inscription, the text might read:

"On October 7, 1950, the New York Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies to win the World Series. It happened 29 years after the first Yankees victory in the World Series in 1921. And so 50 years before the year 2000 will occur, the Yankees won the World Series."

Written this way, Stuart notes, the text mentions a future time of historical importance—the 50-year anniversary of the victory—but it does so in reference to the event at hand, i.e., the 1950 game.

"This is precisely how many ancient Maya texts are structured, including Tortuguero's Monument 6," Stuart writes.

2012 Apocalypse Just Poetic Flourish

According to INAH's Gallaga, this structure of Maya texts is what has confused modern minds, given our penchant for literal, straightforward reading.

Even if the Monument 6 inscription refers to a god coming down at the end of Bak'tun 13, it isn't a statement about the end of the world, he said.

"They are writing in a more poetic sense, saying, Well, on the 21st of December 2012, the god is going to come down and start a new cycle and the old world is going to die and the new world is going to be reborn—just to make it more poetic."

(Read about the rise and fall of the Maya in National Geographic magazine.)

Saturno, the Boston University archaeologist, agreed that the reference to a specific date is clear in Monument 6, but added that "there's no text that follows and says, Herein will be the end of the world, and the world will end in fire. ... That's not anywhere in the text."

(Related video: Surviving 2012—Preparation.)

Rather, Saturno said, the hype around 2012 stems from dissatisfied Westerners looking to the ancients for guidance, hoping that peoples such as the Maya knew something then that could help us through difficult times now.

In any case, even if the ancient inscriptions explicitly predicted the end of the world, Saturno wouldn't be worried, given the Maya track record with long-range prophecy.

"They didn't see [their] collapse coming. They didn't see the Spanish conquest coming."

Spiny, Venomous New Sea Snake Discovered—"Something Special"

The newfound sea snake Hydrophis donaldi.

Photograph courtesy Bryan Fry, University of Queensland

The new sea snake's rough scales are seen in detail. Photograph courtesy Bryan Fry, University of Queensland

Christine Dell'Amore

National Geographic News

Published March 2, 2012

A new species of venomous sea snake mysteriously covered head to tail in spiny scales has been discovered in treacherous seas off northern Australia, a new study says.

Though some other sea snakes have spiky scales on their bellies, "no other [known] sea snake has this curious feature," study leader Kanishka Ukuwela, an ecologist at the University of Adelaide, said by email.

Normally snakes have smooth scales, but each of the newly named Hydrophis donaldi's scales has a spiny projection, he said.

Scientists cruising shallow seagrass beds in the Gulf of Carpentaria (map)recently captured nine of the rough-scaled reptiles.

"The minute the first one landed on the deck, I knew we had something special," study co-author Bryan Fry of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, said by email. "It was quite unlike any of the sea snakes I have seen."

Each of the specimens was found on the rocky seafloor, a habitat that could explain the new species' uniquely strong scales, Fry noted.

Overall, though, "we don't know why this interesting feature evolved in this species, or what they are used for," study leader Ukuwela said.

(See a picture of a "two-headed" sea snake.)

Venomous Snake Has Deadly Neighbors

The new Hydrophis—literally "water serpent"—likely eluded notice for two reasons. The species is apparently rare, and it lives in coastal habitats largely avoided by fishers, Ukuwela said. Many Australian sea snake species live in the open ocean and are often accidentally caught in prawn trawls. (See snake pictures.)

Little is known about the yellowish brown reptile, other than that it gives birth to live young and, like nearly all live-bearing sea snakes, is "venomous and potentially dangerous to humans," according to the study, published February 21 in the journal Zootaxa.

Furthermore, venom is just one obstacle to unraveling the new species' mysteries, the University of Queensland's Fry noted.

"Field observations are impossible, because the water is very murky and filled with lots of very large bull sharks and saltwater crocodiles, in addition to [highly poisonous] box jellyfish," he said.

"If we tried to dive there, our life expectancy would be measured in minutes. The only question is which animal would kill us.

"My money is on the bull sharks."

Apartment On Wheels: Smallest Living To Date!

It’s like people actually are trying to fit their whole living space into a tiny box. By the looks of it, that accomplishment shouldn’t be too far off. We have seen everything, even people making their 2 bedroomapartment into a 27 room mansion. We have seen tiny houses on wheels, and also some rather interesting geek traveling options including foldable living quarters. However, when does it become too small? That might be a question that pops into our heads. Well, never!

Designer Cornelius Comanns has some ideas on how to make your entire life fit into a tiny three wheeled car. It shouldn’t be possible, but as you can see from thepictures, he managed to cramp down space so much that it actually doesn’t look like a bad idea. If you’re thinking about hosting dinner parties, gatherings and an occasional movie night, I can with certainty tell you this is not the way to go.

This concept car named “Bufalino” is nothing less than a marvel. This mini-RV has the capacity to seat two people, a stove to make your dinner, a foldable bed, a fridge, a basin that acts like a sink and a tank for water. The car is also equipped with a ton of storage space for you to bring with you whatever you feel you can’t be without during your travels. Sure, there is no shower, but that can probably be taken care of with a portable shower that you can buy at pretty much any hobby store located close to you. A life in a car, imagine the freedom! Imagine the claustrophobia. Whatever be thy choice.

Oxygen Discovered in Outer Space:

European Space Agency’s (ESA) new Herschel telescope discovered oxygen, like the one we live and breathe on, on Orion’s constellation!

After hydrogen and helium, oxygen is the third most abundant element in the Universe. Its molecular structure makes life on Earth feasible and it constitutes 20% of the air we breathe. If life forms on other planets are similar to those on our planet, then they too probably need oxygen in order to survive.

In 2007, Swedish astronomers claimed that they had found oxygen in a constellation close to Orion, but unlike Herschel’s discovery, the findings were not confirmed.

The scientists’ report, which is published on Astrophysical Journal, mentioned that the oxygen was “hiding” in ice which covers the surface of cosmic dust particles.

The search still goes on since, as scientists admit “we didn’t find large quantities of oxygen and we still don’t understand what is so special about the spots it was discovered in. The Universe still has plenty of unlocked secrets”.

People in North Have Bigger Brains:

People living in the north of the equator have bigger brains than those staying in the south, says a study. Does this means the people in North are smarter than those living in South. Unfortunately the answer is no. They need big brains to see well.

People living in the north of the equator have bigger brains than those staying in the south, says a study. Does this means the people in North are smarter than those living in South. Unfortunately the answer is no. They need big brains to see well.

Research said that it doesn’t necessarily mean northerners are more intelligent than people from the south northerners have evolved to cope with the longer winters and greyer skies in northern climes.

A team at Oxford University measured the brain volume of 55 human skulls from around the world, came out with this intriguing theory that people from countries further from the equator have more grey matter and larger eyes than those from sunnier parts. This is because living in low light conditions means the eyes and brain need to work harder in order to process images to a good level of detail, or “high resolution”, say researchers.

Lead author Eiluned Pearce said the study suggests that the bigger brains and eyes are needed to see properly in dimmer light.

“As you move away from equator, there’s less light available, so humans have had to evolve bigger and bigger eyes. Their brains also need to be bigger to deal with extra visual input. “Having bigger brains doesn’t mean higher latitude humans are smarter, it just means they need bigger brains to be able to see well,” she said.

Asteroid Discovered in Earth Orbit

An infrared study of our local sky has revealed that we are not alone in an orbit – an asteroid is traveling with us.

They are called Trojan asteroids, and several of the major planets have them. They are asteroids that orbit the sun in the same path as the planet.

Ours is only 1,000 feet across – a tiny speck of rock slowly tumbling in space. The Trojan’s orbit describes a wild, tumbling arc around the sun. But that orbit lies on the same plane and about the same distance from the sun as our own.

What makes this asteroid a Trojan is that it has fallen into a stable, if wild, orbit. It travels its circle around the sun at almost the same speed as Earth, so that its position relative to us is always the same. It is as if Earth is playing a forever game of follow the leader.

The chances of crashing into the asteroid are startlingly slim. Right now the Trojan is about 50 million miles ahead of us in our orbit. It’s tumbling around the orbital path may bring us closer. In fact, it’s estimated that the closest is should get to us is 15 million miles – that’s a pretty safe distance.

Before you settle back in your easy chair, however, you should know that the Trojan was picked out of a survey of near Earth objects (NEOs) by the WISE infrared satellite. WISE surveyed the entire sky for over a year and turned up over 500 NEO’s, nearly a quarter of which were previously unknown. An NEO is described as an object that passes within 28 million miles of our orbit around the sun.

So far we’ve identified just the one Trojan asteroid. It is theorized that there is probably another one, occupying the same location in the opposite direction. Although our Trojan poses no threat to us, it is interesting to know that we are not alone in our orbital path.

You can learn more about WISE and the hunt for Trojans at NASA’s WISE page.

Join Virtapay

JOIN Virtpay and make virtual currencies

http://www.virtapay.com/r/suryavel