Imagining Science

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

For Today’s Inspiration

  • NASA to Host News Conference Previewing US Spacewalks 100, 101

    NASA will preview two upcoming spacewalks to complete solar array installation and power augmentation of the International Space Station during a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 20, from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA will stream the event through a variety of platforms. Learn where to watch online: https://www.nasa.gov/live NASA participants

  • NASA Astronauts to Answer Questions from Florida Students

    Students in Florida will hear from NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney as they answer prerecorded STEM questions while aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will begin at 12 p.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 16, and will stream live on the agency’s Learn With NASA YouTube channel. This event is hosted by Sally Ride Elementary School

  • Judge Stops USDA’s Radical Restructuring, For Now

    A judge ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture can’t move forward with its efforts to relocate thousands of employees and close U.S. Forest Service regional offices.

  • 2026 State of the Climate Report Shows a Planet Reaching Its Limits

    The seventh edition of an annual report analyzing Earth’s “planetary vital signs” indicates that Earth systems are rapidly destabilizing, some at an accelerating rate.  The report, published today in BioScience, analyzed 16 of these signs, including greenhouse gas emissions levels, ocean heat content and acidity, the mass of major ice sheets, the number of hot days, Earth’s surface temperature, and more.

    • In This Issue

      Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 40, October 2026. <br/>

    • PAK4 exacerbates melanoma immunosuppression by promoting exosome release

      Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 40, October 2026. <br/>SignificanceImmunotherapy resistance remains a major challenge in melanoma. We identify PAK4 as a key driver of this resistance by promoting the release of PD-L1-enriched exosomes that suppress antitumor immunity. We describe a dual mechanism by which …

    • Elp1 is required for myeloid differentiation and brain repopulation

      Nature, Published online: 14 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11112-3Primary cultured haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells are used to analyse the molecular mechanisms of brain myeloid differentiation, and this platform enabled the identification of elongation factor ELP1 as an important regulator of this process.

    • Competing mechanisms toughen bcc binary and medium-entropy alloys at 20 K

      Nature, Published online: 14 October 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-11065-7The mechanical properties of medium-entropy alloys at 20 K show a plateau in tensile yield strength and fracture toughness as a function of temperature, with no apparent ductile-to-brittle transition.