ILLUMINATING GEOSCIENCE MISCONCEPTIONS: LESSONS FROM THE 2012 APOCALYPSE CRAZE

With the passing of December 21, 2012, the curtain has been drawn on the so-called Mayan Calendar End of the World phenomenon. However, thanks to the Internet there is a lingering record of not only the false and misleading information propagated by the proponents of this movement, but the serious misconceptions the general public fosters about geological phenomena. As history has clearly demonstrated, this will not be the last wave of apocalyptic pseudoscience the geoscience community will have to deal with in the 21^st century. Therefore it is instructive to turn the 2012 incident into not only a teachable moment, but a moment of reflection that will aid the geoscience community (especially its education, outreach, and communication specialists) in preparing for the next wave of Internet- and cable television-driven pseudoscience. This poster will summarize several important lessons learned from the 2012 phenomenon, including the common types of misconceptions expressed by the general public, ways that the geoscience community can communicate more effectively with the general public (and combat misconceptions rather than unwittingly feed them), and possible sources for the next wave of geoscience pseudoscience.