Ana Diaz

Pokemon Legends: Z-A might have found a new way to battle, but it likely won't inspire a larger competitive scene. By Ana Diaz on November 21, 2025 at 10:00AM PST

In this list, we’re highlighting all the best sci-fi games released in 2025. Anything from futuristic puzzle games to thrilling first-person shooters as options released this year.

Ptychographic X-ray computed tomography was used to image nanoporous gold samples, with and without metal oxide additives, following incremental ex situ annealing steps up to 750 °C. Studying the exact same sample volumes following sequential annealing steps allowed accurate 3D imaging of large meso- and mac

Abstract Within the intricate European genetic diversity landscape, Canary Islanders exhibit a unique genetic admixture, comprising

WASD controls have sparked controversy with the playerbase, though they haven't broken the game balance the way some expected.

PLOS

"It's a lot like being a fan of a boy band: Part of what makes it popular is being popular, in a way." By Ana Diaz on December 29, 2025 at 6:00AM PST

By 5th January 2026 Brainrot is a swathe of deliberately random, nonsensical content inspired by memes and AI generated characters that has taken over Roblox.

Probing elemental and structural heterogeneities is essential for understanding how materials evolve and degrade, yet correlating chemical and structural information across mesoscale specimens at the nanoscale remains analytically challenging. Here, we introduce a nondestructive correlative workflow that combines three-dimensional data sets from nanoscale X-ray ptychographic and fluorescence tomographies acquired on the same sample at dedicated synchrotron instruments. This workflow was developed and applied to quantify metal traces within individual low-Z compartments of a whole 1.88-billion-year-old Gunflint microfossil exhibiting a distinctive nanoscale architecture characteristic of thick-walled Huroniospora. Beyond the thick wall containing pluri-micrometer-sized quartz crystals with nanoinclusions, our analyses reveal an extracellular shell composed of submicrometer-sized quartz and Fe2+-rich greenalite embedded within an Fe3+-rich chert matrix. The specimen is unfractured and contains organic matter comparable to that of modern bacterial cells of similar volume. The trace sensitivity achieved in the multimetal three-dimensional maps, combined with precise volumetric quantification at nanometer scales, enabled accurate determination of metal concentrations in fossil compartments. Iron and manganese levels comparable to those of extant photosynthetic microorganisms, together with manganese-calcium-enriched iron silicate cores, suggest a cyanobacterial lineage and provide new insights into early microbial metabolisms. This correlative workflow, enabling high-sensitivity multielement trace analysis of low-Z nanostructured mesoscopic systems without physical subsampling, is broadly transferable to applications ranging from biominerals and geobiological materials to advanced functional materials such as catalysts, batteries, and nanocomposites.

In this essay, writer Ana Diaz examines the Final Fantasy video games and how they helped her understand her partner's identity, and her own.