Imagining Science

Imagining…

Where Science Meets Creative Writing

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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

For Today’s Inspiration

  • NASA’s X-59 Experimental Supersonic Aircraft Makes Second Flight 

    NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft made its second flight on Friday, kicking off a series of dozens of test flights in 2026.  Although the flight duration was abbreviated due to a technical issue, the team was able to collect information that will inform future tests.  “Despite the early landing, this is a good day for the team. We collected more data, and the pilot landed safely,” said Cathy Bahm, project manager for NASA’s Low-Boom

  • Hangar One Restoration Project

    Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on April 25, 2022 and has been updated to reflect changes including the completion of Hangar One’s restoration. Restoration has been completed on Hangar One, a historic landmark in the San Francisco Bay Area and a key part of the region’s early aviation history.   In December 2025, Planetary Ventures completed restoration of

  • Trees Shed Their Leaves to Adapt to Droughts

    The browning or loss of tree leaves that can be observed during droughts may be a coping mechanism to deal with dry circumstances by avoiding additional water stress.

  • Earth’s Climate Records Are Melting

    An ice core from the Weißseespitze Glacier collected in 2019 gave researchers a peek into the history of Earth’s wildfires, volcanic eruptions, and anthropogenic activity. In the years since, much of the glacier has disappeared.

  • In This Issue

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 11, March 2026. <br/>

  • Reducing PTSD symptoms through unconscious intervention

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 11, March 2026. <br/>SignificanceTraditional posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) therapies can evoke emotional distress and lead to premature dropout. This study demonstrates that subliminally presenting trauma-related images during an eye-movement exercise can effectively …