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
- Journey to the Center of the Virgo Cluster
The focus of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image released on May 29, 2026, is an active spiral galaxy on a journey lasting hundreds of millions of years. The galaxy Messier 88 (M88), also known as NGC 4501, is located about 63 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices (Berenice’s Hair). M88 is an active galaxy, which means that its center harbors
- NASA Drains 66-Million-Gallon Reservoir to Upgrade Critical Water System
A powerful but mostly unseen water system at work during rocket engine tests at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, underwent an upgrade in May. Crews brought the High Pressure Industrial Water Facility’s 66-million-gallon reservoir to its lowest level since construction in the 1960s by pumping out about 40 million gallons of
- A Unique African Volcano Could Solve a Mystery on Mercury
New data from Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania suggest that carbon-rich volcanic activity could be responsible for the mysterious “hollows” observed on the surface of Mercury.
- Rivers in the Antarctic Sky, Captured in 3D
A new study shows that atmospheric rivers may be responsible for up to 90% of Antarctica’s annual precipitation.
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 22, June 2026. <br/>
- Correction for Astley et al., Global monitoring of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through online surveys sampled from the Facebook user base
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 22, June 2026. <br/>
- Jupiter observations reveal a simple scaling law for particle acceleration
Nature, Published online: 03 June 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01412-zSupersonic shocks in the vicinity of Jupiter suggest that transient plasma structures could govern the acceleration of particles travelling through space.
- Queen cell architecture shapes honey bee queen development
Nature, Published online: 03 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10534-3Worker bee construction behaviour actively engineers a physicochemical niche that is crucial for queen development in honey bees.