Imagining…
Where Science Meets Creative Writing
Find a story within the topics above
How can we look at fossils and understand what creatures roamed the Earth millions of years ago?
How can we predict the behavior of materials deep within planetary interiors?
How can we reverse humanity’s impact on the global climate?
How can we predict habitats for life on other planets?
Doing impactful, innovative research requires training our brain to imagine the elusive unknown, even when bounded by scientific evidence. Now, more than ever in the history of human civilization, there is a pressing need to exercise our imagination muscles. Writing scientific fiction while accounting for the real science is a powerful way to do just that—to learn what is possible, what is probable, how we can change the future, and what our responsibility is to the future generation of our species.
Most Recent Stories
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Progress Without Morals
A scientist is trying to harness microbial properties to develop a fantastic tool. He believes he can; but should he?
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For Today’s Inspiration
- NASA’s X-59 Aircraft Flies Supersonic for First Time
NASA’s experimental X-59 aircraft marked a major milestone Friday, June 5, when it flew faster than the speed of sound for the first time, setting the stage for demonstrating its quiet supersonic capabilities later this year. NASA test pilot Jim “Clue” Less took off and landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, reaching a top speed of approximately Mach 1.1 (713 mph) and altitude of 43,400 feet. The X-59’s flight began at 11:08 a.m. PDT and lasted 81 minutes, with the team focusing on flying qualities at both subsonic and then
- NASA Announces Winners of 2026 University Innovation Competition
NASA announced the Massachusetts Institute of Technology project, Exploration-Class Lunar Integrated Power SystEm, as the first place winner for the 2026 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition, which challenges students to bridge gaps in aerospace technology by innovating new system concepts and prototypes. Another team from the same university won second place overall for their project, Mars Exploration Layered Infrastructure for Operations, Research, and Advancement, while Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University took third place with the Mars
- Oysters Clean Up More Nitrogen Pollution Than We Thought
New research has revealed that significant amounts of excess nitrogen in coastal waters are buried as oyster reefs grow and that some reefs trap more nitrogen than others.
- Small-Scale Indian Ocean Dynamics Underpin Marine Ecology and Climate
With unique monsoon, mesoscale and submesoscale processes, the Indian Ocean offers critical insights and new challenges to achieving a full understanding of marine environments and the Earth system.
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 22, June 2026. <br/>
- Correction for Astley et al., Global monitoring of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through online surveys sampled from the Facebook user base
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 22, June 2026. <br/>
- Electric vehicles cut pollution in China – and prevent 260,000 premature deaths
Nature, Published online: 05 June 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01781-5Having fewer fossil-fuel powered cars on the road is reducing some pollutants, but not others.
- See a helicopter destined for Mars and a spectacular flowery frame for the Milky Way — May’s best science images
Nature, Published online: 05 June 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01609-2The month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team.