McGonigal's Worm

When an inexplicable catastrophe renders every chordate—from fish and frogs to humans—incapable of reproduction, the world is thrown into bewildered silence. The first clues emerge in a laboratory, where experiments fail and a frantic researcher discovers that even laboratory mice have become sterile. News spreads through scientific circles like a seismic shock, while the public, hearing the story weeks later, treats it as a dark joke.

Amid the global infertility, a single, unassuming creature—McGonigal’s worm—remains untouched, offering the faintest glimmer of hope. Dozens of research institutes scramble to understand the phenomenon, cataloguing data and even wagering on the birth of the last child on Earth. As the mystery deepens, listeners are drawn into a tense, speculative race against time, where every discovery could be the key to reversing humanity’s most profound loss.