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
- NASA Astronaut Mike Fincke Leaves NASA, Career Includes 4 Spaceflights
NASA astronaut Mike Fincke is departing the agency on Wednesday after 30 years of service. Throughout his career, he flew four missions, spent 549 days in space, and completed nine spacewalks in support of the International Space Station. “Few people have had the opportunity to shape as many chapters of NASA’s history as Mike Fincke,”
- Pursuing a Dream of Working for NASA
As a young girl raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, Lindsey Waitt dreamed of working for NASA. Her dream is now a reality as she embarks on her role as a NASA test project engineer with the Artemis launch team – an integral part of the agency’s missions that will enable humans to return to the surface
- Extreme Heat May Drive Asthma Risk in Baltimore, Especially at Night
A new study paints a fuller picture of how heat affects respiratory health, especially in Baltimore’s socially vulnerable neighborhoods.
- Streamflow From Generative AI
The trifecta of predicting, assimilating, and downscaling streamflow has arrived with generative diffusion AI models.
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 32, August 2026. <br/>
- Protecting episodic memory after sleep loss: Similar benefits of exercise and naps via distinct neural contributions
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 32, August 2026. <br/>SignificanceSleep is essential for learning and remembering but one-third of the population worldwide sleeps insufficiently. Sleep loss is a public health problem that costs nations billions of dollars annually. Following sleep hygiene strategies may not …
- A gas-enshrouded and gas-reddened black hole at cosmic dawn
Nature, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10846-4Observations of an unusual cosmic-dawn source illuminate how early supermassive black holes may have grown rapidly in a gas-enshrouded state; such enshrouded black holes may lie at the heart of the ‘little red dots’.
- Towards an equitable future of global photovoltaic waste recycling
Nature, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10905-wGlobal photovoltaic waste will reach 297–402 million tonnes by 2060, and regionally adapted recycling strategies and international cooperation will be needed to provide equitable and scalable PV waste circularity.