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
- Midwestern City Lights
City lights from the Midwestern United States to the East Coast sparkle across the landscape a couple of hours before sunrise on Oct. 18, 2026. Major urban areas visible in the photograph include Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; and the New York metropolitan region. The International Space Station was orbiting 259 miles above Earth when this
- NASA Astronauts to Answer Questions from Florida Students
Students in Florida will hear from NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney as they answer prerecorded STEM questions while aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will begin at 10:40 a.m. EST Tuesday, Nov. 10, and will stream live on the agency’s Learn With NASA YouTube channel. This event is hosted by Freedom Crossing Academy in
- 聚焦微小颗粒，提升天气和空气质量预报能力
一种处理卫星气溶胶观测数据的新方法提高了模拟精度，有望为天气和气候预报带来助益。
- Temperature Swings Are Melting the Ice in Lava Beds National Monument’s Caves
Ice caves in Lava Beds National Monument, their climates traditionally defined by narrow temperature ranges, are becoming more like regular caves.
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 44, November 2026. <br/>
- Origami state machine with time-varying magnetic fields
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 44, November 2026. <br/>SignificanceMultistable mechanical systems can encode information and functionality through transitions between discrete states. A key challenge consists of reliably programming such systems to a target state without prior knowledge of the current state. …
- The hidden cost of flexible work in academia: women do more parenting
Nature, Published online: 05 November 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-03568-0Policies designed to keep women in the workforce could be entrenching gendered parenting roles.
- Synergy in viral–bacterial co-infection expedites algal bloom demise
Nature, Published online: 04 November 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11243-7Viral–bacterial synergy accelerates algal bloom collapse by enhancing virus-induced mortality, driven by Alteromonas chemoattraction and co-infection, revealing a previously unrecognized mortality agent that influences oceanic carbon cycling .