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
For Today’s Inspiration
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Beaver Island is one in a string of verdant and scenic jewels in a northern Lake Michigan archipelago.
- NASA Langley Engineer Attends FAA Training
At a busy airport, every aircraft in the area shares just a handful of radio frequencies. Spectrum and time are constrained and if multiple people speak at once, both messages can get lost. Communications like “clearance delivery,” which require long transmissions and readbacks, are challenging in high-traffic areas, particularly when weather or other factors require
- Sand Demand Outpaces Sustainable Extraction
Demand for sand in the building sector is expected to rise 45% by the year 2060, outpacing current efforts to sustainably harvest it.
- Tree Lines Are Migrating. Some Up, Some Down.
Between 2000 and 2020, 42% of tree lines around the world crept upward, largely because of climate change. But 25% moved downhill, seemingly because of factors such as land use changes and wildfires.
- In the remote Amazon, locals are saving a giant fish—and helping their villages
Project has brought income and electricity while protecting wide swaths of tropical forest
- Magic mushroom compound shows promise against cocaine addiction
Small study that prioritized Black and low-income participants yields “remarkable” results
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 19, May 2026. <br/>
- Evaluating the statistical realism of LLM-generated social science data
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 19, May 2026. <br/>SignificanceLarge language models (LLMs) enable the generation of data that could potentially be analyzed for social research. While the need for assessing the validity of such AI-generated data is widely recognized, we do not yet have a coherent …
- AI bills can be as big as a postdoc salary. Is the cost worth it?
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- Science can take the lead in making better measures of economic growth
Nature, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01474-zThe United Nations wants scientists to help design indicators of progress that go beyond GDP. Researchers should seize the chance and be aware of past failures.