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
-
-
Progress Without Morals
A scientist is trying to harness microbial properties to develop a fantastic tool. He believes he can; but should he?
-
For Today’s Inspiration
- NASA Completes First Flight of Laminar Flow Scaled Wing Design
NASA completed the first flight test of a scale-model wing designed to improve laminar flow, reducing drag and lowering fuel costs for future commercial aircraft. The flight took place Jan. 29 at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, using one of the agency’s F-15B research jets. The NASA-designed, 40-inch Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) wing model was attached to the aircraft’s underside vertically, like a fin. The flight lasted about 75 minutes, during
- I Am Artemis: Jesse Berdis
Jesse Berdis’s dream of becoming a structural engineer began with visions of skyscrapers rising above the Dallas and Oklahoma skyline. Today, that dream has soared beyond city limits, reaching towering heights at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- Earth’s Climate May Go from Greenhouse to Hothouse
Uncertainty in climate models could mean Earth systems are perilously close to their tipping points, scientists warn.
- The Endangerment Finding is Lost
Tomorrow, the EPA will revoke the 2009 Endangerment Finding, finalizing a July proposal to do so, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a 10 February announcement.
- A hack-proof internet? Quantum encryption could be the key
Team in China sends data with entangled atoms, neutralizing backdoor hardware threats
- Inside the quest to make a safer football helmet
New energy-absorbing designs and materials have revolutionized the iconic safety device
- In This Issue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 5, February 2026. <br/>
- Quantum benchmarking of high-fidelity noise-biased operations on a detuned Kerr-cat qubit
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 123, Issue 5, February 2026. <br/>SignificanceThe path to practical quantum computing is hindered by the presence of noise, which disrupts fragile quantum information. Recent advances suggest that tailoring quantum hardware to favor certain types of noise can lead to more efficient error …
- Hunter-gatherers took refuge in European ‘water world’ for millennia
Nature, Published online: 11 February 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00440-zAncient inhabitants of the Rhine-Meuse river delta resisted population shifts that transformed most of Europe — until they helped catalyse the expansion of ‘Bell Beaker’ culture.
- Large-scale quantum communication networks with integrated photonics
Nature, Published online: 11 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10152-zA lab-scale proof-of-principle demonstration of a quantum network comprising one server chip and 20 client photonic chips implementing twin-field quantum key distribution shows excellent scalability and reliability and yields a pathway towards future large-scale networks.