India, Nov. 13 -- Friday, November 13, 2026, was once marked as a possible doomsday date in a scientific paper that predicted the world's population would grow towards infinity. More than six decades after the prediction was published, the world has reached the date with an estimated population of around 8.3 billion - nowhere near the mathematical figure proposed by the researchers.

The prediction appeared in a paper titled Doomsday: Friday, 13 November, A.D. 2026, published in the journal Science in November 1960. Its authors, Heinz von Foerster, Patricia Mora and Lawrence Amiot, examined historical population estimates and identified a pattern that appeared to show humanity growing at an accelerating rate.

Their calculations suggested...