At Temple’s School of Media and Communication, associate professor Barry Vacker is teaching "Media, Culture, and the End of the World." He has a great hook: December 21 is doomsday on the Mayan calendar. Each week, students explore apocalyptic themes. "We looked at why these ideas proliferate over time and how they provide ‘what if’ scenarios to help guide human behavior,” he said. “If nuclear material falls into the hands of terrorists, for example, a war could start.”