Science and the Imagination Archives - Center for Science and the Imagination

Science and the Imagination

Pursuing human agency and long-term thinking.

An image of a scientific interface, in blue and yellow, over a turquoise bathymetric map. The interface shows various gauges, data readouts, and controls in a stylized, icon-centric manner.

CSI Skill Tree: In Other Waters (Online)

In the CSI Skill Tree series, we examine and celebrate how video games envision possible futures, build rich and thought-provoking worlds, and engage people as active participants in unfolding and

Claire Vaye Watkins: Climate Writing (Online)

Join Claire Vaye Watkins, award-winning author of the climate fiction novel Gold Fame Citrus and the short fiction collection Battleborn, for a virtual reading and a conversation about climate writing.

Cities of Light: A Collection of Solar Futures

A collection of science fiction stories, art, and essays exploring how the transition to solar energy will transform cities; catalyze revolutions in politics, governance, and culture; and create diverse futures for human communities.

Get the book

CSI Skill Tree: 80 Days (Online)

CSI Skill Tree is a new series that examines and celebrates how video games envision possible futures, build rich and thought-provoking worlds, and engage people as active participants in unfolding

A blue figure holding the scales of justice, made up of binary code ones and zeroes, against a black background.

Stories of Algorithmic Justice (Online)

We often cling to the idea that artificially intelligent systems are neutral arbiters, despite knowing that these systems can only be as good as the parameters and data sets that

“Tomorrow Is Another Daze” by Ernest Hogan

A story about Aztlán, creative reuse, and making technology work for you.

Conversations—Ernest Hogan and Frederick Luis Aldama

“Even God Has a Place Called Home” by Ray Mwihaki

A story about environmental health, technophilia, and transcendence.

Conversations—Ray Mwihaki and Christopher Rowe

Imaginary Papers: Issue 3

Troy L. Wiggins, Kate Greene & Joey Eschrich

“The Wandering City,” by Usman T. Malik

A story about temporal anomalies, public spaces, and a new global consciousness.

Conversations—Usman T. Malik and James Graham

“A Cyber-Cuscuta Manifesto” by Regina Kanyu Wang

A story about big data, emerging life forms, and a plea for coexistence.

Conversations—Regina Kanyu Wang and Athena Aktipis

“Notice” by Sarah Pinsker

A tale of unanticipated mail and the limits of self-reliance.

Conversations— Sarah Pinsker and Punya Mishra

“Fourth and Most Important” by Nisi Shawl

A tale of coded messages, clandestine drone deliveries, and surprising alliances.

Conversations— Nisi Shawl and Ayana Jamieson

Five separate works by Nina Miller for the Us In Flux series. From left to right; a quilt sewn with black thread, embroidered leaves, fabric resist and dye piece, a second quilt sewn with white thread, a woman embroidered with thread

The Art of Us in Flux: An Interview with Nina Miller

A conversation about art that visualizes the future, creative expression in moments of crisis, and how art can be a path into fictional worlds.

Two portraits embroidered on a quilt. The portrait on the left is stitched with black thread on white linen and the portrait on the right is stitched with various colored thread on a dark denim patch.

“Skating Without Streetlights” by Tina Connolly

A story about virtual reality, friendship, and the unexpected benefits of impersonation.

Conversations— Tina Connolly and Dennis Bonilla

A couch in front of a window, but it is pieced from multiple fabrics and quilted. It is fragmented and multicolored.

“A Room of One’s Own” by Tochi Onyebuchi

A tale of quantum entanglement and self-care.

Conversations—Tochi Onyebuchi and Michael G. Bennett

Fabric resist and dye piece depicting the moon over the ocean.

“When We Call a Place Home” by Chinelo Onwualu

A utopian tale of historical memory, the dangers of forgetting…and vampires.

Conversations—Chinelo Onwualu and Robert Evans

Green linen embroidered with the white outline of a squirrel, and five leaf shapes cut from multiple colors of fabric secured to the linen with cross stitches in various colors.

“An Attempt at Exhausting My Deck” by Kij Johnson

A short story about backyard ecology, interspecies communities, careful observation, and solitude without loneliness.

Conversations—Kij Johnson and Jessie Rack

Illustrationdone in fabric, quilted landscape with small person looking over vast hills covered in crops.

“The Parable of the Tares” by Christopher Rowe

A short story about food, monoculture, and communities that draw together the human and nonhuman.

Conversations—Christopher Rowe and Michael Bell

Everything Change Climate Fiction Contest 2020

What would our world look like if we actually respected and lived within planetary boundaries? We’re excited to announce our third global climate fiction short story contest. Learn more…

Illustration from Lee Konstantinou's short story "Burned-Over Territory," showing a person with a shaved head and an earring seated, facing away, against a black background, with camera drones hovering around their head.

Future Tense Fiction Book Launch: Washington, DC

Join us to celebrate the launch of Future Tense Fiction: Stories of Tomorrow, a new anthology of science fiction from Future Tense, with France Córdova, director of the National Science