It’s not the end of the world.

At least that’s what one man thinks.

Dr. Michael Callaghan, assistant professor of anthropology at Southern Methodist University, will give the first in a series of lectures at 3 p.m. and again at 6 p.m. today at the Mayborn Museum.

The “bugs” of late summer are biting. The nation is having its worst West Nile virus season in a decade, and up to 10,000 people who stayed in California cabins are at risk of hantavirus. A second case of bubonic plague in the West has been confirmed — in a girl in Colorado — and scientists fear that a bumper crop of ticks could spread Lyme disease, the nation’s most common bug-borne malady.

On June 19, 2012 five climbers from Waco set out to summit Mount Rainier, the highest peak in Washington’s Cascade range.

Rainier, popular with outdoor adventurers, climbs 14,411 feet above the Pacific Ocean. On a clear day it can be seen from Portland to the Canadian border.

Dr. Bill Neilson, a 1976 graduate of Baylor, is also a senior lecturer and clinical professor of decision science in the Honors College. Neilson, who graduated with a degree in chemistry, is a surgeon and longtime health professional with an interest in medical missions.