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
- APOD: 2026 October 23 – Andromeda in Southern Spring
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 October 23 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Andromeda in Southern
- El Niño Then and Now
A 35-year satellite altimetry record lets scientists hold this year’s El Niño up against its strongest predecessors.
- Cuts to Satellite Program Add “Uncertainty” and “Risk,” Suggests GAO Report
Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report suggesting that the plan for NOAA’s next generation of geostationary satellites, called GeoXO, could “put vital observations at risk.”
- The Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale Revisited Once Again
Scientists present a refined multi-method geomagnetic polarity time scale for the Late Cretaceous through the Eocene.
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 42, October 2026. <br/>
- Systemic collapse emergence from climate-induced perturbations in transportation networks
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 42, October 2026. <br/>SignificanceHuman-made infrastructures are vulnerable to external stressors (e.g., due to climate), and their interaction can generate perturbations affecting system functionality. Even localized perturbations can propagate to remote parts of the system …
- Can maths survive AI? Fields medallist Terence Tao calls for a ‘Maths 2.0’ world
Nature, Published online: 22 October 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03389-1As machines race ahead in solving problems, mathematicians must establish a new era that prizes human understanding over simply publishing more solutions.
- Current-Driven Molecular Machine with Rotation-Enhanced Conductance
Nature, Published online: 22 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11312-xCurrent-Driven Molecular Machine with Rotation-Enhanced Conductance