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 Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2025 Annual Report
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), which advises NASA and Congress on safety, has released its 2025 annual report on NASA’s performance and challenges. While the panel acknowledged NASA’s safety achievements, it warned that the agency’s biggest challenges stem from interconnected factors – workforce, acquisition, technical authority, budgets, and the growing complexity of human spaceflight – requiring sustained attention as missions become more ambitious. “Independent
- Making an Entrance
NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway smiles up at the camera as he enters the International Space Station Feb. 14, 2026, after docking to the orbiting laboratory aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Since Hathaway and fellow Crew-12 members Jessica Meir of NASA, Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency), and Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos began their mission
- Slow and Fast Madden-Julian Oscillation Modes
The skill of Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) forecasts can be improved by identifying slow- and fast-MJO modes and their superposition.
- With the Ocean Included, the Social Cost of Carbon Doubles
A new calculation includes ocean ecosystems when assessing the monetary impact of climate change.
- Unorthodox ‘universal vaccine’ offers broad protection in mice
Immune-stimulating cocktail could shield against diverse bacterial and viral infections
- A little-known flu virus is sickening cattle around the world. Are humans next?
Features of recently identified influenza D point to possible pandemic threat
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 7, February 2026. <br/>
- Gradience as a cognitive principle for evaluating numerical notations
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 7, February 2026. <br/>SignificanceThis study presents a cognitive principle, gradience, for comparing the communicative efficiency of numerical notations, along with two indices for measuring gradience, jitter and inversion. In general, larger numbers require more signs than …
- Human hippocampal neurogenesis in adulthood, ageing and Alzheimer’s disease
Nature, Published online: 25 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10169-4Mapping of neurogenesis in human hippocampi across ages and different cognitive abilities using multiomic single-cell sequencing reveals distinct signatures between cognitive preservation and decline.
- EU leaders should not rush to revamp green-hydrogen rules
Nature, Published online: 25 February 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00560-6Some policymakers think that climate-friendly policies are impeding the adoption of green hydrogen. They should ask scientists to review the evidence.