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
- Sunglint on Atlantic Ocean
Sunlight beams off a partly cloudy Atlantic Ocean just after sunrise as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above on March 5, 2025. This is an example of sunglint, an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of water at the same angle that a satellite sensor views it. The result is
- NASA, JAXA to Cover HTV-X1 Spacecraft Departure from Space Station
After delivering about 12,000 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, hardware, and other cargo to the International Space Station for NASA and its international partners, JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s) uncrewed HTV‑X1 cargo spacecraft is scheduled to depart Friday, March 6. Watch NASA’s live coverage beginning at 11:45 a.m. EST on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the
- Antarctic Ice Sheet Has Lost a Connecticut-Sized Amount of Ice Over the Past 30 Years
A new study of Antarctica has found that since 1996, its ice sheet has lost 12,820 square kilometers (nearly 5,000 square miles) of ice—nearly enough to cover the state of Connecticut, or 10 cities the size of Greater Los Angeles.
- Salt of the Earth: Vast Underground Salt Caverns Are Preserving Our History—and Just Might Power Our Future
From health spas to film storage, salt mine caverns have been put to use in surprising ways—and they’re now poised to contribute to the generation and storage of clean energy.
- Surprising partner preference found in matings between Neanderthals and modern humans
Male Neanderthals tended to pair up with female modern humans, but whether intercourse was consensual is unclear
- Reconstitution of sex determination and the testicular niche using mouse pluripotent stem cells | Science
Proper differentiation of gonadal somatic cells is crucial for sex determination and the production of sex hormones and gametes, and reconstituting this process in culture would both deepen our understanding of this process and enable the generation of …
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 8, February 2026. <br/>
- Correction for Nasca et al., Stress dynamically regulates behavior and glutamatergic gene expression in hippocampus by opening a window of epigenetic plasticity
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 8, February 2026. <br/>
- BCDX2–CX3 and DX2–CX3 complexes assemble and stabilize RAD51 filaments
Nature, Published online: 02 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10314-zBCDX2–CX3 and DX2–CX3 complexes assemble and stabilize RAD51 filaments
- AI agents are ‘aeroplanes for the mind’: five ways to ensure that scientists are responsible pilots
Nature, Published online: 02 March 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00665-yAs artificial-intelligence systems take on more of the scientific workflow, the central goal should not be complete automation, but designing platforms that preserve creativity, responsibility and surprise.