2012 is here -- much to the terror of some of the world's doomsayers. It's the year that the ancient Mayans are said to have predicted the end of the world. Not so, say scholars of the Maya, who lived and live today in Mexico and Central America.
Among those scholars is John Hoopes, an associate professor of Archeology at the University of Kansas. Hoopes is an expert in pre-Columbian civilizations, and has helped debunk the 2012 myth.
But along the way, he's become fascinated with it, and has gone from studying the myths of ancient Latin America to the myths of the modern-day United States. Hoopes has a blog hosted by Psychology Today, where he recently wrote the post, What You Should Know About 2012.