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
- Help Refine Data from Space Telescopes with Artifact InSPECtor
How do scientists studying space with data from a telescope hundreds of thousands of miles away know that what they are seeing is real? A new NASA project, Artifact InSPECtor, invites you to find out – and by doing so, to help missions like Euclid and NASA’s new Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope answer fundamental
- NASA’s Chandra Spots Galactic Gem
Two galaxies merge at a furious rate in this Aug. 25, 2026, image of the II Zw 096 system. This and several other images of both visually and scientifically interesting galaxies were released by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes. Chandra X-ray data (magenta) pinpoint powerful black hole activity and hot gas, while optical
- Waves Play a Key Role for Lateral Stirring and Mixing of Ocean Tracers
Numerical models and theoretical considerations deliver new insights on how waves affect the movement of tracers in wave-rich environments.
- Seeking Closure to Better Understand Earth’s Energy Balance and Water Resources
Accounting for the total energy budget of Earth’s ecosystems has real-world implications for water resource management, land use policy, and monitoring of crop conditions.
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 36, September 2026. <br/>
- Retinotopic remapping of the visual system in deaf adults
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 36, September 2026. <br/>SignificanceHow are the functions of the brain reorganized when a sensory input is no longer available? Evidence suggests that other senses may compensate; for example, D/deaf adults outperform hearing controls in certain visual tasks. We mapped …
- Successful early-career scientists rely on network of mentors
Nature, Published online: 11 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02827-4Large networks are particularly beneficial to researchers in under-represented groups.
- El Niño goes viral — and scientists learn what makes people care about the climate
Nature, Published online: 11 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02763-3Evoking emotions is more likely to prompt people to engage with climate efforts than are data alone.