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
- Winter’s End Is Written in the Clouds
As winter turned to spring, the skies over the Gulf of Alaska displayed textbook examples of numerous cloud formations.
- I Am Artemis: Ryan Schulte
Listen to this audio excerpt from Ryan Schulte, Orion flywheel project manager: As the four Artemis II astronauts traveled on a 694,481-mile journey around the Moon and back, the Orion spacecraft provided them with all the essentials for deep space life, including daily exercise. The crew used an exercise device called the flywheel throughout their mission to maintain their physical and mental health, and Ryan Schulte, Orion
- New USGS Tool Fills in the Gaps on U.S. Water Supply
The National Water Availability Assessment Data Companion is the first tool that integrates information about water availability in individual watersheds at a national scale.
- Antibiotic Resistance Might Get a Boost from Droughts
Drought has the potential to turn normal soils into perfect breeding grounds for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, new research has found.
- Thousands of shady ads sell paper authorship for cash, large-scale investigation finds
Results are “only the tip of the iceberg” of shadowy paper-mill marketplace
- Octopus ‘krakens’ as large as semi-trucks stalked ancient seas
Giant cephalopods may have rivaled marine reptiles as apex predators during the age of the dinosaurs
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 17, April 2026. <br/>
- Design principles of the cytotoxic CD8+ T cell response
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 17, April 2026. <br/>SignificanceAdaptive cytotoxic T cells must eliminate pathogens while sparing healthy tissue, yet how response speed and magnitude arise from cellular decision rules remains unclear. Here, we formalize T cell immunity as a feedback-controlled program in …
- An electrifying test to find a good coffee
Nature, Published online: 30 April 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01289-yTechnique determines roast level and strength by applying voltage to the brew.
- Submicrometre sampling of living cells by macrophages
Nature, Published online: 29 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10435-5Macrophages can sample antigens from living cells through a trogocytosis-like mechanism that routes ingested material away from degradation, a finding that delineates a previously unknown pathway for antigen presentation to CD8 T cells.