Here's the scientific skinny:
1) There will be no alignment of the sun, earth, and galactic center. Even if there was, it would have absolutely no effect on us.
2) The earth's poles will not "flip." The geographic poles *never* flip and the suggestion is pure bollocks. The magnetic poles do flip, but the process takes thousands of years. Even if we knew such a thing was imminent, it cannot be narrowed down to a particular date or even a particular century.
3) There is no Planet X or Nibiru. The Nibiru legend originated in ancient Mesopotamia and is now known to have been referring to the planet Jupiter.
4) References to some 26,000 year cycle come from the well-known phenomenon called "precession of the equinoxes." There is absolutely nothing unique about the year 2012. The references to some 3600 year cycle are bogus. These relate to Sitchin's fraudulent claims about Nibiru and the Annunaki.
5) The sun's magnetic poles *will* flip that year or therabouts, but this happens about every 11 or 12 years with no notable consequence.
6) All other claims of a scientific nature that I have seen are bunk. People just make them up. There is no scientist anywhere who predicts anything out of the ordinary for 2012.
Historically, there is no prophecy which indicates the year 2012. These claims are all fraudulent. The Mayan calendar reaches the end of one of their long cycles, that's all.
The History Channel is largely to blame for all of this fear and they are most certainly quite happy about it as it gets more people watching their bogus programs. (They just finished with "Armageddon Week.") More viewers = more money from sponsors. There's nothing like morality or scholarship involved here.
