The AP reports that Hawking was recently touring the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where research on steam cells is being conducted. At the event, the physicist said that humans won’t survie another 1,000 years on Earth unless we escape “beyond our fragile planet.”

Noted scientists have taken the same stance, though not as extreme, over the years arguing that humanity as a species should explore the cosmos not only to preserve the species, but for economic purposes as well.

Here’s Bill Nye arguing that we should be exploring space for economic benefit:

Here’s Michio Kaku talking about the chances of mankind destroying itself in the next 1,000 years:

One of this year’s most anticipated comedies is This is the End, a movie in which celebrities play caricatures of themselves during the apoclypse. The movie is partially written by Seth Rogen, who also wrote the hit comedy Superbad. This is the End will be Rogen’s directorial debut.

In addition to Rogen, the cast includes pretty much everyone you would expect Rogen to hang out with in Hollywood. James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, and Danny McBride seem to round out the main cast, while a large number of cameos are sure to fill the movie.

Sony this week released a red band trailer for the movie, giving moviegoers a glimpse of the apocalyptic mayhem at the beginning of the flick. The trailer also spoils a few of the early cameos, such as when Michael Cera slaps Rihanna on the ass and gets smacked in retaliation, or when a certain British actress shows up to rob the survivors. Also, a few celebrity deaths are spoiled, but some of the bigger cameos are sure to remain under wraps for the premiere.

If someone had (rather convincingly) told you that in a shocked and terrified voice yesterday afternoon, what would have been your reaction? Would you have believed them, knowing that the end times were probably nigh? Would you have checked Facebook, just to see if anyone else was talking about a tsunami? Would you have punched them in the face?

I’m not sure I can condone this prank, as it’s pretty mean – some people look genuinely scared. But we can all watch this and be glad that this scenario didn’t actually come to pass. The end of the world would have been so stressful.

We’re all still here! Frickin’ Mayans…

[VitalyzdTv via reddit]

It seems that NASA has decided it is its responsibility to debunk all of the Maya Calendar rumors. Already, NASA scientists have participated in an hour-long discussion of how end-of-the-world predictions are not based on reality. In fact, NASA is so confident the world will not end that it has already prepared and released a video for December 22 that explains to bewildered believers exactly why the world will have kept turning.

NASA is keeping at it, trying to save people from selling their belongings and waiting for an apocalypse that won’t come. A new video has been released by the agency, again speaking out against the doomsday rumors. In it, David Morrison, a senior scientist and astrobiologist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, goes through each of the most popular doomsday scenarios, tossing them aside like trash.

Of course, there isn’t any actual evidence that the world will end next week. In a Google Hangout earlier this month, scientists with NASA pointed out this lack of evidence and dismissed the claim as another in an endless progression of doomsday prophecies as old as humanity.

But NASA didn’t stop at debunking the December 21 predictions. The agency has just preemptively released a video detailing why the world didn’t end on that day. The video is dated and presented as if someone will be watching it on December 22, with a narrator that calmly explains why the world will have not ended next week. It’s a sign of scientists’ incredible confidence that the world will not end.

The video doesn’t gloat or condescend. Instead, it calmly lays out the facts that the Maya calendar never predicted the end of the world, that no asteroids or rogue planets are on their way toward Earth, and that the Sun is not a current danger to our planet.

But don’t bother telling that to your weird cousin in his doomsday shelter, he won’t believe you anyway.

Especially after you tell him that the latest reassurance is coming from the mouth of the gasp U.S. Government!?

Yes, the government of the United States or at least someone with access to their USA.gov web portal has dedicated an entire blog post to making sure you know that we’re all going to be here to drink a little too much on Christmas Eve.

“False rumors about the end of the world in 2012 have been commonplace on the Internet for some time. Many of these rumors involve the Mayan calendar ending in 2012 (it won’t), a comet causing catastrophic effects (definitely not), a hidden planet sneaking up and colliding with us (no and no), and many others,” they say.

“The world will not end on December 21, 2012, or any day in 2012.”

IN 2012? What do you know, USAgov?

The U.S. government is relying on NASA’s previous debunking for their proof that the world will keep turning in a little over two weeks time. NASA says that “the world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.”

If you want to watch a bunch of NASA scientists tear apart each bogus doomsday prophecy one by one, check out this recent Google Hangout:

Not everyone knows bunk when they hear it, though, so NASA recently devoted the precious time of some of its scientists to debunking the spurious claims. NASA researchers from all over the U.S. gathered in a Google Hangout to discuss prophecy, the winter solstice, and the track record of doomsday prophecies (spoiler alert: they’ve all been wrong).

Among the participants are Astrobiologist David Morrison, Asteroid Scientist Don Yeomans, Archaeoastronomer Mitzi Adams, Heliophysicist Lika Guhathakurta, and Astrophysicist Paul Hertz. The scientists methodically pick apart every silly prophecy and rumor about what disasters will happen on December 21. In particular, the group tears into the myth of the fictional planet Nibiru, which is rumored to be on a collision course with Earth.

(Image courtesy MBisanz via Wikimedia Commons)

Zombies? Fake. Vampires? Not real either. There is one science fiction scenario that could take place one day: killer robots like Cylons or Skynet. Humans for years have been tinkering with the idea of true artificial intelligence, but if you had a robot who was self aware, would he see humanity as a threat? Nearly every single science fiction novel/movie of all time says yes.

The boys over at Epiohio have brought in Dr. Daniel H. Wilson who is a robot expert to help answer some questions about the impending robopocalypse. He goes over topics such as how to avoid getting killed and how to deal with large walking robots.

So if you aim for a robots sensors or have an off switch failsafe you can press you will be good. But that only really applies to a man made robot that becomes self aware. What is the robot in question was built as a sentient being by another robot?

There you have it, all you need to have to beat the robopocalypse is guns, mobility, and enough smarts to get out of the way!

But you may say “I am way too lazy to read books. Wouldn’t it be great if we could have all that information in one easy to access spot. I won’t have time to read when the zombies attack, anyway.”

Problem solved. I present to you a guide to zombie survival so accessible, a brain dead gnat would still have the attention span to follow along. This should be posted in every workplace along with minimum wage and child labor laws.

This guide seems to really hammer in the fact that portable solar power would be a good tool to have during the zombie end of days. Could be because GoalZero sells portable solar power generators, could be pure coincidence.

Even if it is a shameless plug, I really can’t argue. With a crumbling infrastructure, most power plants would be non-operational in a few short weeks. A personal power supply would be clutch when the zombies attack.

An awesome infographic from My Free Email Search details all the failed attempts at predicting the end of the world. If you thought end of the world predictions were something new, think again. The first recorded end of the world prediction is from the Assyrians in 2800 B.C. The cause of the end for them: bribery and corruption. If that was the case, every nation on earth would have been destroyed over and over again for the past 2,000 years.

Not surprisingly, a lot of predictions from Christian believers in the early days after Jesus had died. Various popes predicted the end of the world for various reasons including math and the rise of Islam. Other Christians believed the end would come in 1033, a thousand years after the death of Jesus.

Predictions started getting more common in the 20th century with noted evangelists Harold Camping and Pat Robertson both predicting the end of the world. After Robertson wrongly predicted the end twice, he got out of that race. As we all know though, Camping kept going and predicted the end of the world six times with last year’s predictions causing the biggest ruckus.

We’re not done with predictions yet though. We still have the Mayan calendar set for later this year and a few others in the far off future. Of course, the future predictions are a bit more based in science, but still way off. One prediction has the earth succumbing to overpopulation while another blames it on an asteroid.

Thankfully, there are only two predictions that are spot on and we won’t be around to witness it anyway. The two end of the world predictions see our sun burning out in a billion years or the universe just stops working. Check out the full infographic for the rundown.