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
-
-
Progress Without Morals
A scientist is trying to harness microbial properties to develop a fantastic tool. He believes he can; but should he?
-
For Today’s Inspiration
- Career Spotlight: Welder (Ages 14-18)
What does a welder do? A welder uses tools that join two or more parts through forces such as heat or pressure. Metals are the materials most commonly used in welding, but it’s also possible to weld thermoplastics or wood. Welders use their hands, skills, and problem-solving abilities to create something new. At NASA, welders
- NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 to Study Adaptation to Altered Gravity
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission is preparing to launch for a long-duration science mission aboard the International Space Station. During the mission, select crew members will participate in human health studies focused on understanding how astronauts’ bodies adapt to the low-gravity environment of space, including a new study examining subtle changes in blood flow. The experiments,
- Snowball Earth’s Liquid Seas Dipped Way Below Freezing
Iron isotopes show that salty seawater pockets beneath the ice were as cold as −15°C.
- Tsunamis from the Sky
Not all tsunamis come from the seafloor, some are triggered by the atmosphere, driven by fast-moving storms and pressure waves, and can strike coasts with little warning.
- A hack-proof internet? Quantum encryption could be the key
Team in China sends data with entangled atoms, neutralizing backdoor hardware threats
- Inside the quest to make a safer football helmet
New energy-absorbing designs and materials have revolutionized the iconic safety device
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 4, January 2026. <br/>
- Cytoplasmic crowding acts as a porous medium reducing macromolecule diffusion
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 4, January 2026. <br/>SignificanceMolecular diffusion is a fundamental and energy-saving transport mechanism. As such, it is central to numerous functions in living cells such as cell growth, biochemical signaling, and gene synthesis. However, the intracellular space is …
- Rete ridges form via evolutionarily distinct mechanisms in mammalian skin
Nature, Published online: 04 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-10055-5A spatial and single-cell transcriptomics study across multiple mammalian species identifies epidermal BMP signalling as a functional requirement for rete ridge formation, providing insight into mechanisms underlying hair density loss and wound healing.
- Integrated structural dynamics uncover a new B12 photoreceptor activation mode
Nature, Published online: 04 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-10074-2Spatiotemporal insight into photoactivation of the prototypical B12 photoreceptor CarH is revealed across nine orders of magnitude in time, identifying a transient adduct that distinguishes it from thermally activated B12 enzymes.