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
- NASA’s Career Technical Education Day Highlights Technical Careers
At NASA, remaining a global leader in exploration and innovation includes having a skilledand dedicated workforce. Technicians play a critical role in advancing the agency’sresearch and missions, applying hands-on expertise across engineering, fabrication,electronics, and countless other technical fields. To help cultivate the next generation of technical talent, NASA’s Office of STEM Engagementhosted Career Technical Education
- NASA, USGS Scientists Go Rock Hounding in California’s High Desert
Equipped with rock picks and hand lenses, a team of geoscientists deployed to the Mojave Desert recently to investigate a tantalizing “fingerprint” detected by a NASA sensor. Their target: a cache of topaz hiding in plain sight. The geologists weren’t searching for gem-grade treasure. Rather, the presence of topaz could hint at a more valuable
- Vast Space, Sparse Data: An AI Answer to Twin Space Weather Challenges
Modern machine learning and AI methods can help heliophysics researchers and space weather forecasters overcome limitations from a dearth of observations and the infrequency of extreme events.
- Our new paper: Extreme rainfall further endangers the world’s rarest great ape
In November 2025, Cyclone Senyar generated extreme rainfall in parts of Sumatra, Indonesia, triggering thousands of landslides. Our new paper in the journal Current Biology demonstrates that these landslides might have a devastating impact on a critically endangered population of Tapanuli orangutan. In November 2025, Cyclone Senyar brought extreme rainfall to large parts of Sumatra
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 23, June 2026. <br/>
- With qualitative research, the risks of data sharing can outweigh the rewards
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 23, June 2026. <br/>
- ‘Footballers are not superheroes’: we must tackle the mental and physical pressures of elite sport
Nature, Published online: 11 June 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01865-2As the men’s football World Cup gets under way, how the game weighs on the health of athletes still isn’t talked about enough, says player-turned-medic Vincent Gouttebarge.
- Tool flags suspicious journals before researchers submit papers
Nature, Published online: 11 June 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01707-1The free platform, called Journal Trends, could also allow integrity sleuths to spot low-quality publications.