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Sir Isaac Newton predicted the world will end in 57 years, in 2060. The prediction is part of a handwritten document discovered in Jewish National Library in Jerusalem. However, we don’t need to worry much about it, because although Newton was a scientist, he made this prediction on calculations based on the Bible, rather than from scientific observation. The Mayans predicted the world as we know it will end even sooner, in 2012, using (primitive) scientific methods. Newton died in 1727, after formulating the law of gravity, but he was also a theologian who wrote extensively on biblical subjects.
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A bombmaker’s identity can be traced from DNA left on bomb fragments after an explosion. This will make it easier for terrorists to be brought to trial. When researchers set up an experiment to see whether DNA could be detected on exploded bomb fragments and matched to a suspect, they found traces of DNA on one in five bombs.
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It could come next year, or not for a million years, but some day an asteroid will be heading this way. If an impact couldn’t be avoided and the result would be devastating, would you want to know? Or would you want the government to keep silent, so you could enjoy your final days? As asteroid hunters become more efficient, this moral quandary could become a reality.

At a recent meeting, scientists debated this issue. Geoffrey Sommer says, “When a problem arises with high uncertainty, there is an opportunity to spin the problem to avoid global panic. If you can’t do anything about a warning, then there is no point in issuing a warning at all. If an extinction-type impact is inevitable, then ignorance for the populace is bliss.”
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The U.S. won’t rest after getting rid of Saddam Hussein. According to Richard Perle, of the U.S. Defense Advisory Board, our next targets will be Iran, Libya and Syria. He says, “Change is needed in all those three countries and a few others besides.” Our methods will be different for each country, and the regimes in Iran and Syria could be changed without direct U.S. intervention. “I think Iran can be changed by the action of the Iranian people,” he says. “I believe that Syria, too, can organize change from within.”
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