When I was in school I did alot of research on my own, spending hours in the Library - even falling asleep at my desk!
Since coming back from the sky world after my accident, I knew our legends and knowledge was based in natural scientific knowledge.
this is what natives call 'natural law' as coming from the Creator. Our traditions are rooted in natural law.
The new sciences coming out, and those that like Pari Spolter share their observations beyond the mainstream, are observing nature as she reveals herself, as she was created in natural law by the Creator.
here is an article from Google Scholar about what science has come to call IK or Indigenous Knowledge.
Indigenous peoples with a historical continuity of resource - use practices often posses a broad knowledge base of the behavior of complex ecological systems in their own localities http://www.jstor.org/pss/4314060