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
- Building Foresight for Earth Science, featuring Lindsey Jacobson
NASA’s Earth-observing satellite missions track dozens of features of a changing planet — aerosols, sea levels, land cover, cloud cover — over years and decades. Sustaining that record for the scientific and operational communities who depend on it requires more than engineering talent. It requires planning for an uncertain future: anticipating where a mission delay
- Roman Space Telescope Travels to SpaceX Hangar
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, encapsulated in its payload fairing, travels from the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility to the SpaceX hangar at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, ahead of mating to a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Roman’s science instruments are designed to help researchers understand dark
- The Colorado River Basin Is Running Out of Water. Not Everyone Is Happy with the Government’s Suggested Solution.
Though overallocation is one reason the river is shrinking, reduced snowpack and increased evaporation caused by climate change are also contributing factors.
- Narwhals Dive Deep to Help Scientists Research the Warming Arctic
Scientists come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes, that shape is a blubbery 1,000-kilogram whale with a 2-meter tusk.
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 34, August 2026. <br/>
- Macrophages diverge into profibrotic SAMs and proresolving ReM2 cells to regulate liver fibrosis
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 34, August 2026. <br/>SignificanceLiver fibrosis, a scarring process that underlies chronic liver disease, remains untreatable. Macrophages are immune cells that either promote scarring or help the liver heal, but how they decide between these roles is unclear. Using a mouse …
- South Africa’s ‘registration law’ for scientists could be a template for the world — if the nation gets it right
Nature, Published online: 26 August 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02568-4The plan to force some scientists to register with a professional body could protect people and the environment, but the current version lacks clarity.
- The 46 companies scrambling to commercialize fusion for energy
Nature, Published online: 26 August 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02513-5Whether the billions of dollars of investment will lead to an inexhaustible source of clean electrical power is not yet known.