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Let's face it - as trendy as taxidermy has become, it can also be a little creepy. Enter Anna-Wili Highfield (above), a Sydney, Australia-based artist whose hand-painted paper bird and horse sculptures are a perfect vegan alternative to the formaldehyde-filled, flea-bitten critters inhabiting hip hotels, restaurants and bars. Formerly a scenic painter at Opera Australia, the 30-year-old Highfield made her first ''fairy wren'' in 2008. Since then, she has created scores of avian and equine wonders out of thick cotton paper and copper or brass wire. Highfield doesn't have a gallery, but thanks to a few mentions in design magazines down under, there's a sizable waiting list for her work. Hermes recently commissioned two large Pegasus sculptures for its store in Brisbane, but despite this haute horsy endorsement, the artist's favorite winged muses aren't of the hooved variety. ''Raptors fascinate me,'' she says. ''Hawks, eagles, owls - they have an intensity that I try to capture in my pieces. I like to think they look alive.'' Go to annawilihighfield.com. This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

JUST CUT AND RUN [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article looks at a different type of meal being served at Chicago's Moto restaurant. Chef Homaro Cantu has designed dishes that consist of pictures of the food printed with food-based inks on seasoned edible paper that tastes like the food pictured. The dishes taste good enough to lure back diners at $240 per head. Cantu keeps the details of the edible paper secret. He also has three patents pending for oddball kitchen gadgets including vapor-releasing utensils.

Reports on the production of Fiber Fingerprint system by Joshua Smith at Escher Group Ltd. Results of his research which show that each piece of paper has a unique identification like a finger print; Evidence that tracking this fiber fingerprint can deter postal fraud and forgery of money and government documents; Use of this system in Singapore and by the United States Postal System.