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
- Curiosity Blog, Sols 4995-5001: 5,000 (Martian) Days on Mars
Written by William Farrand, Senior Research Scientist, Space Science Institute Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 28, 2026 The span of sols spanned by this blog post is noteworthy in several ways. First, Curiosity became a world-class (for Mars at least) mountaineer by passing the 1 kilometer mark of elevation from its landing site on the floor
- Anak Krakatau Rumbles Again
A powerful eruption from the Indonesian volcano lofted ash into the atmosphere, disrupting thousands of flights and degrading air quality.
- Wastewater Can Take Harmful Algal Blooms from Bad to Worse
By modeling toxic diatoms and coastal processes, scientists have discovered the degree to which nutrients from Southern California’s densely populated coast affect these blooms.
- The landslide that caused the 26 August 2026 debris flow in Nepal and Tibet
Enough satellite and drone imagery is now available to allow some initial analysis of the landslide that started the 26 August 2026 debris flow in Nepal and Tibet. Much has been written over the last ten or so days about the tragic debris flow that has caused such high levels of damage and loss of
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 36, September 2026. <br/>
- Retinotopic remapping of the visual system in deaf adults
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 36, September 2026. <br/>SignificanceHow are the functions of the brain reorganized when a sensory input is no longer available? Evidence suggests that other senses may compensate; for example, D/deaf adults outperform hearing controls in certain visual tasks. We mapped …
- China’s fast-track clinical trials are in the spotlight after child deaths
Nature, Published online: 08 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02407-6A new government policy seeks to balance innovation and safety.
- Two children died from gene therapies in China: where the field goes next
Nature, Published online: 08 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02497-2Strengthened laws should help to ensure future deaths are quickly disclosed to the public, but China’s reputation for such research is at risk.