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
-
-
Progress Without Morals
A scientist is trying to harness microbial properties to develop a fantastic tool. He believes he can; but should he?
-
For Today’s Inspiration
- Harnessing the Sun to Extract Oxygen on the Moon
Light shines onto a solar concentrator being tested in this Aug. 7, 2025, photo. The concentrator is part of the Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) project, which aims to produce oxygen from simulated lunar regolith for use at the Moon’s south pole. For this test, the team integrated the solar concentrator, mirrors, and software and confirmed
- NASA’s Home for Experimental Flight Advances Aeronautics Mission
Nestled in the Mojave Desert, NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, pushes the boundaries of flight to advance the agency’s aeronautics mission. This is where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier and engineers are now pioneering the future of high-speed, autonomous, and electrified aircraft. Armstrong contributes to NASA’s broader mission of innovation and
- Greenland Dust Delivers Nutrients to Ice-Melting Algae
Researchers scrutinized aerosols above and within the ice sheet, finding phosphorus and other mineral particles.
- Marine Heat Waves Can Increase Coastal Rainfall
Unusually warm ocean waters can amplify extreme rainfall in downwind areas, leaving coastal communities—especially those in developing countries—at risk.
- Surprising partner preference found in matings between Neanderthals and modern humans
Male Neanderthals tended to pair up with female modern humans, but whether intercourse was consensual is unclear
- Reconstitution of sex determination and the testicular niche using mouse pluripotent stem cells | Science
Proper differentiation of gonadal somatic cells is crucial for sex determination and the production of sex hormones and gametes, and reconstituting this process in culture would both deepen our understanding of this process and enable the generation of …
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 8, February 2026. <br/>
- Correction for Nasca et al., Stress dynamically regulates behavior and glutamatergic gene expression in hippocampus by opening a window of epigenetic plasticity
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 8, February 2026. <br/>
- Pokémon turns 30 — how the fictional pocket monsters shaped science
Nature, Published online: 27 February 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00441-yThe Japanese media sensation has inspired generations of researchers in fields as diverse as evolution, biodiversity and research integrity.
- I will continue the fight for environmental justice in Black communities
Nature, Published online: 27 February 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00538-4Nicknamed the father of environmental justice, Robert Bullard argues that researchers in the field have more reason than ever to back up their work with action.