Scientists only figured out in the last decades what religions knew for millenia: people love to be told "the world is ending, give us money". Back when I was a teen, the coming ice age / famine of 2000 predicted by the Club of Rome was a serious problem for my educated (adult) friends. So was nuclear war.

Lists like [1] remind me of my extremely scary youth :)

[1] http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/19/great-moments-in-faile...