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
- NASA, Boeing Share Update on Commercial Starliner Development Plans
On Monday, NASA and Boeing provided an update on the company’s Starliner spacecraft, including adding additional crew missions and certifying a new rocket for crew transportation to low Earth orbit. “We are living through the most exciting era of space exploration since Apollo,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “As this domain continues to open, there
- NASA Armstrong Celebrates 80 Years of Flight Innovation
On Sept. 30, 1946, five National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics (NACA) engineers arrived at Muroc Army Airfield in California’s high desert to achieve supersonic flight for the first time. In less than two years, NACA flew the X-1 aircraft faster than the speed of sound, marking an important milestone in aviation history. Fast forward 80
- Chariklo’s Rings Are Evolving
One ring became more opaque, and the other became more translucent. Astronomers don’t know why.
- Reducing Uncertainty in Groundwater Models Using Airborne Geophysics
Scientists present a probabilistic framework for exploiting airborne geophysical data for groundwater model parameterization and apply it to the Scott River aquifer system in Northern California.
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 38, September 2026. <br/>
- Zinc isotopic evidence for an Archean initiation of deep carbon cycling
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 38, September 2026. <br/>SignificanceUnderstanding when Earth’s deep carbon cycle began is critical for reconstructing planetary evolution and habitability. We add to this debate by integrating new zinc (Zn) isotopic data for Phanerozoic and Precambrian carbonatites plus …
- Paid to peer review: firms are paying researchers to assess manuscripts for journals
Nature, Published online: 28 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02277-yFreelance peer-review jobs through third-party companies raise practical and ethical questions.
- Stephen Hawking biography explores an ‘exceptionally clear, uncluttered mind’
Nature, Published online: 28 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02959-7An elegant account of the physicist’s unusual life story highlights the relationships that inspired him.