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
- Supersonic!
On June 5, 2026, NASA’s experimental X-59 aircraft flew faster than the speed of sound for the first time, setting the stage for demonstrating its quiet supersonic capabilities later this year. NASA test pilot Jim “Clue” Less took off and landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, reaching a top speed of approximately Mach 1.1 (713 mph). The flight lasted 81 minutes, with the team focusing on flying qualities at both
- NASA’s INCUS Satellites Progress Toward Launch
Description One of the three satellites that make up NASA’s INCUS (Investigation of Convective Updrafts) mission sits on a fixture at the facilities of Blue Canyon Technologies in Lafayette, Colorado. The satellite completed testing in preparation for launch in late May 2026. The mission will make the first space-based survey of the dynamics of tropical
- Rocket Launches and Reentries Harm Earth’s Ozone Layer
Solid-state fuels—recently used to help launch astronauts to the Moon for the first time in decades—appear to be the fuel type with the most detrimental effects on the ozone.
- Potential landslides and liquefaction from the 8 June 2026 M=7.8 earthquake offshore Mindanao in the Philippines
Initial analyses suggest that the earthquake this morning has the potential to have triggered significant numbers of landslides and areas of liquefaction. At the time of writing, the impacts of the M=7.8 earthquake that occurred offshore the south coast of Mindanao in the Philippines remain unclear. Initial reports in the local press suggest 15 fatalities
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 22, June 2026. <br/>
- Correction for Astley et al., Global monitoring of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through online surveys sampled from the Facebook user base
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 22, June 2026. <br/>
- Distributed control circuits across a brain-and-cord connectome
Nature, Published online: 08 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10735-wDistributed control circuits across a brain-and-cord connectome
- Sustainability or dystopia? What past patterns tell us about where society is heading
Nature, Published online: 08 June 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01821-0A new book applies principles of environmental tipping points to past societal transformations — and attempts to draw lessons about what the future holds today.