Sea-level rise will likely accelerate rock coast cliff retreat rates.

Coastal response to anthropogenic climate change is of central importance to the infrastructure and inhabitants in these areas. Despite being globally ubiquitous, the stability of rock coasts has been largely neglected, and the expected acceleration of cliff erosion following sea-level rise has not been tested with empirical data, until now. We have optimised a coastal evolution model to topographic and cosmogenic radionuclide data to quantify cliff retreat rates for the past 8000 years and forecast rates for the next century.

Frontier Lapita interaction with resident Papuan populations set the stage for initial peopling of the Pacific.

The initial peopling of the remote Pacific islands was one of the greatest migrations in human history, beginning three millennia ago by Lapita cultural groups. The spread of Lapita out of an ancestral Asian homeland is a dominant narrative in the origins of Pacific peoples, and although Island New Guinea has long been recognized as a springboard for the peopling of Oceania, the role of Indigenous populations in this remarkable phase of exploration remains largely untested. Here, we report the earliest evidence for Lapita-introduced animals, turtle bone technology and repeated obsidian import in southern New Guinea 3,480-3,060 years ago, synchronous with the establishment of the earliest known Lapita settlements 700 km away.

Antimicrobial and Anti-inflammatory Gallium-Defensin Surface Coatings for Implantable Devices.

Emerging and re-emerging infections are a global threat driven by the development of antimicrobial resistance due to overuse of antimicrobial agents and poor infection control practices. Implantable devices are particularly susceptible to such infections due to the formation of microbial biofilms. Furthermore, the introduction of implants into the body often results in inflammation and foreign body reactions.

Role of Oxygen Vacancy Ordering and Channel Formation in Tuning Intercalation Pseudocapacitance in Mo Single-Ion-Implanted CeO Nanoflakes.

Metal oxide pseudocapacitors are limited by low electrical and ionic conductivities. The present work integrates defect engineering and architectural design to exhibit, for the first time, intercalation pseudocapacitance in CeO. An engineered chronoamperometric electrochemical deposition is used to synthesize 2D CeO nanoflakes as thin as ∼12 nm.

Dating correlated microlayers in oxalate accretions from rock art shelters: New archives of paleoenvironments and human activity.

Oxalate-rich mineral accretions, often found in rock shelters around the world, offer important opportunities for radiocarbon dating of associated rock art. Here, sample characterization and chemical pretreatment techniques are used to characterize the accretions, prescreen for evidence of open-system behavior, and address potential contamination. The results provide stratigraphically consistent sequences of radiocarbon dates in millimeter-scale laminated accretions, demonstrating their reliability for dating rock art, particularly symbolic markings commonly engraved into these relatively soft deposits.

Multidisciplinary discovery of ancient restoration using a rare mud carapace on a mummified individual from late New Kingdom Egypt.

CT scans of an unnamed mummified adult from Egypt, now in the Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney (NMR.27.3), reveal it to be fully sheathed in a mud shell or carapace, exposing a mortuary treatment not previously documented in the Egyptian archaeological record.

Fluorine-based color centers in diamond.

We report on the creation and characterization of the luminescence properties of high-purity diamond substrates upon F ion implantation and subsequent thermal annealing. Their room-temperature photoluminescence emission consists of a weak emission line at 558 nm and of intense bands in the 600-750 nm spectral range. Characterization at liquid He temperature reveals the presence of a structured set of lines in the 600-670 nm spectral range.

Fe deposition during the late Pleistocene and the Holocene echoes past supernova activity.

Nuclides synthesized in massive stars are ejected into space via stellar winds and supernova explosions. The solar system (SS) moves through the interstellar medium and collects these nucleosynthesis products. One such product is Fe, a radionuclide with a half-life of 2.

A chronological model for the Late Paleolithic at Shuidonggou Locality 2, North China.

The site of Shuidonggou Locality 2 offers important evidence for the Late Paleolithic sequence of north China. The site not only contains one of the earliest instances of ornamental freshwater shell and ostrich eggshell beads in the region, but also stone artifacts with features arguably resembling the Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) blade technology found farther north. The appearance of these innovative archaeological forms have been attributed to the arrival of hominin populations, possibly modern humans, into the region during Marine Isotope Stage 3.

Satellite-Based Land-Use Regression for Continental-Scale Long-Term Ambient PM Exposure Assessment in Australia.

Australia has relatively diverse sources and low concentrations of ambient fine particulate matter (<2.5 μm, PM). Few comparable regions are available to evaluate the utility of continental-scale land-use regression (LUR) models including global geophysical estimates of PM, derived by relating satellite-observed aerosol optical depth to ground-level PM ("SAT-PM").

Deep level defects in 4H-SiC introduced by ion implantation: the role of single ion regime.

We characterized intrinsic deep level defects created in ion collision cascades which were produced by patterned implantation of single accelerated 2.0 MeV He and 600 keV H ions into n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers using a fast-scanning reduced-rate ion microbeam. The initial deep level transient spectroscopy measurement performed on as-grown material in the temperature range 150-700 K revealed the presence of only two electron traps, Z (0.

Reducing mortality risk by targeting specific air pollution sources: Suva, Fiji.

Health implications of air pollution vary dependent upon pollutant sources. This work determines the value, in terms of reduced mortality, of reducing ambient particulate matter (PM: effective aerodynamic diameter 2.5μm or less) concentration due to different emission sources.

Airborne ultrafine particles in a Pacific Island country: Characteristics, sources and implications for human exposure.

The Pacific Islands carry a perception of having clean air, yet emissions from transport and burning activities are of concern in regard to air quality and health. Ultrafine particle number concentrations (PNCs), one of the best metrics to demonstrate combustion emissions, have not been measured either in Suva or elsewhere in the Islands. This work provides insight into PNC variation across Suva and its relationship with particle mass (PM) concentration and composition.

Timelines of the "free-particle" and "fixed-particle" models of stone-formation: theoretical and experimental investigations.

Two major theories on renal stone formation will be reviewed, the "free-particle" and "fixed-particle" mechanisms. These theories combine data on intrinsic factors (inborn metabolic errors), extrinsic factors (diet), renal cell responses and the physico-chemistry and biochemistry of urine into mechanisms of stone formation. This paper describes the specific role of time in both mechanisms.