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
- Chennai City Lights
Chennai, on India’s southern coast along the Bay of Bengal and with a metropolitan population of about 8.7 million, shines with white LED streetlights in this photograph taken at approximately 9:13 p.m. local time on May 2, 2026, from the International Space Station. Earth observations from the space station let us see how our planet
- New Instrument Used Antarctic Ice Sheet to Probe Extreme Universe
The Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) is a NASA Astrophysics Pioneers Program mission designed to detect the most energetic particles in the universe.
- NASA Announces “Realignment” Toward Human Spaceflight
NASA announced an agencywide realignment that includes combining related mission directorates to sharpen the agency’s focus on human spaceflight.
- Germany to Return Contested Dinosaur Fossil to Brazil
Following a long restitution campaign, both countries announced their willingness to repatriate the 110-million-year-old spinosaurid Irritator challengeri.
- Ancient wars between microbes gave us key immune defenses
A better understanding of battles between bacteria and viruses could inspire new medicines
- A student takes on Stanford (and the world) | Science
Theo Baker spills Silicon Valley secrets and revisits his efforts to expose a shocking breach of research integrity
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 20, May 2026. <br/>
- Multiscale fatigue crack initiation in hierarchical additively manufactured alloys
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 20, May 2026. <br/>SignificanceA majority of mechanical failures are caused by fatigue, where damage progressively accumulates during cyclic loading. Hierarchical microstructures enabled by additive manufacturing offer a promising route to fatigue-resistant alloys. However, …
- Too dangerous to release: is Mythos the start of the restricted-AI era?
Nature, Published online: 26 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01617-2What happens when AI companies produce models that they say the public can’t have — and how should users and governments react?
- Should there be a national museum of chemicals?
Nature, Published online: 26 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01336-8A proposal to highlight the work of chemists, and reflections on 150 years of London Zoo in this week’s pick from the Nature archive.