ScienceDaily: Plants & Animals News

For tens of thousands of years, Aboriginal Australians have created some of the world's most striking artworks. Today their work continues long lines of ancestral traditions, stories of the past and connections to current cultural landscapes, which is why researchers are keen on better understanding and preserving the cultural heritage within. By revealing the chemistry of plant secretions, or exudates, recent studies build a basis for better understanding and conserving art and tools made with plant materials.

New research has big implications for genomic medicine. Scientists have defined with atomic precision a new genome editing tool that is less than half the size of CRISPR-Cas9 -- currently the most reliable genome editing system. This new tool would allow scientists to fit genetic editors into smaller viral delivery systems to fix a variety of diseases.

Tie-dyeing is a fun activity that can spice up clothes with colorful patterns. Although kits are available in stores, nature provides dyes that can be extracted from items found in one's yard -- for example, acorns and rust. Researchers now present a 'green' process for tie-dyeing cotton with renewable resources and wastes that undergraduate students can easily do under minimal supervision. The activity links together science, art and sustainability.