Twenty Seconds to Midnight

Each year the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists sets the Doomsday Clock after consultation with its board of sponsors, which includes nine winners of the Nobel Prize. The clock is a universally recognized indicator of the world s vulnerability to global catastrophe brought about by man-made technologies. On January 29, 2025, the Atomic Scientists shifted the clock s hands to 89 seconds to midnight, citing the combined threats of climate change, nuclear war, and misuse of artificial intelligence. Working at a point in the future, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr. Clare McGarrity has developed a formula making the Mojave Desert in Death Valley bloom. She has been tasked with trying to expand and refine her formula for use in the great Sahara Desert with the goal of helping feed the starving people of Africa and soon, the Middle East. Unknown to her, the research assistant working beside her is a terrorist, ordered by his government to steal her formula.