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 Names Stephen Cash Marshall Space Flight Center Director

    NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has named Stephen Cash director of the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, effective Monday, Oct. 19. Cash, a veteran NASA engineer and aerospace executive, returns to lead the center where he began his career more than four decades ago. “Marshall contributions to NASA’s missions are historic and it’s

  • Artemis II Heat Shield After Splashdown

    Shortly after NASA’s Artemis II mission splashed down on April 10, 2026, U.S. Navy divers captured underwater imagery of the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield. In the months after, the agency measured whether the thermal protection system effectively safeguarded the crew and Orion systems as the spacecraft reentered Earth’s atmosphere. This rigorous analysis confirmed that the

  • The Ambiguous Costs of Climate Change

    To put a price tag on climate change, some approaches focus on whether it made an event more likely, whereas others focus on whether it made an event more severe and damaging. A new study examines the validity of both approaches.

  • Clouds over the Highest Mountains Dance a Little Differently

    Clouds over the Tibetan Plateau and the Andes are growing colder and higher than other clouds in response to climate change. That could affect local hydrology and radiation.

    • In This Issue

      Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 41, October 2026. <br/>

    • Interventions to mitigate post-infection morbidity: Management insights from simple models

      Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 41, October 2026. <br/>SignificanceMany infectious diseases cause morbidity after recovery. However, management typically focuses on acute burden. Moving beyond this, we use models to examine interactions between interventions and post-infection effects. We show that reductions …