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
- APOD: 2026 November 4 – The Not-So-Hidden Galaxy, IC 342
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 November 4 – The… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. The Not-So-Hidden
- Before the Dawn in America’s Heartland
With hardly a cloud in sight, astronauts had a sweeping view of nighttime lights in the U.S. Midwest.
- Mapping Kīlauea’s Magma Reservoirs
Researchers used a dense seismometer network to monitor a combination of natural and truck-generated seismic signals and identify two regions of subsurface magma storage.
- Elephants Engineer Their Ecosystems in Life—and in Death
Elephant carcasses leave a lasting legacy on the savanna, reshaping microbial communities and plant life.
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 43, October 2026. <br/>
- A functional two-pore-domain K+ channel from a large DNA virus
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 43, October 2026. <br/>SignificanceWhile the evolutionary history of the pore and its sensor domains in modern K+channels can be traced back to prokaryotes, the origin of a tandem architecture remains unknown; such structures do not occur in bacteria. Here, we highlight a …
- Ecosystems depend on people: don’t abandon them
Nature, Published online: 04 November 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03544-8It might seem counterproductive to put more people in nature, but sometimes human activity nurtures biodiversity.
- When humans disappear, biodiversity takes a surprising turn
Nature, Published online: 04 November 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03505-1For decades, conservation has worried about the risks of too many people. In some places, depopulation is the real threat.