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
- Artemis III SLS Core Stage Joins Boosters at Kennedy
NASA’s Artemis III SLS (Space Launch System) core stage is integrated alongside the twin solid rocket boosters on Oct. 28 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building’s High Bay 3 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Technicians lifted the 212-foot rocket stage from the facility’s High Bay 2 using a one-of-a kind lifting beam designed
- NASA University Challenge Ignites Trajectory of Drone Entrepreneur
Five years ago, Gavin Gardner was a Michigan State University engineering student researching next-generation drone technology as part of a NASA grant. Garder expected the research to be demanding – but he was surprised that navigating the financial side of the work presented an even greater challenge. Although Gardner was used to leading fellow students
- Twin Spacecraft Ready to Head for a Martian Escapade
A pair of probes have taken a circuitous path to Mars but are now ready to leave their “loiter” orbit for a 10-month cruise to the Red Planet.
- Antarctica’s Only Flowering Plants Take Opposite Paths Under Experimental Warming
A 7-year field experiment showed Antarctica’s native grass and pearlwort reworking their internal plumbing in contrasting ways as temperatures shifted.
- 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 …
- Delayed electron–hole recombination in a pseudo-direct semiconductor
Nature, Published online: 28 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11223-xPseudo-direct bandgap character in bismuth sulfide retards bimolecular electron–hole recombination while preserving strong light absorption.
- Connectome simulations identify a central pattern generator for fly walking
Nature, Published online: 28 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11195-yComputational simulations of a neural network based on fly connectomes identify a three-neuron circuit that is organized to produce leg motor rhythms for walking.