The end is always nigh in the human mind

Why are we so attracted to prophecies of doom, from religious raptures to environmental collapse? It's part of our psychology

IN 1919, William Butler Yeats wrote The Second Coming, an allegory of the atmosphere in Europe after the carnage of the first world war.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

[link to www.newscientist.com]