Review: “Ruby and the Reindeer” makes true holiday magic - Sesaya Arts Magazine

Reindeer grazing changes the vegetation of northern pine forests below ground as well as above it. In a recent study in Finland, trees and understory vegetation in grazed forests had nearly 30% less shallow-root biomass than those in ungrazed areas. Root structure also changed, which may affect the ability of plants to take up water and nutrients. The research is published in the journal Oikos.

The National Park Service has revised its plans to redevelop the Tidal Basin region of the National Mall in Washington, DC. The plan zeroes in on West Potomac Park, which Trump picked in May as his preferred site for the planned National Garden of American Heroes. One leading historic preservationist interpreted the plan as a way to create space for the project, reports the Washington Post. “The plan that we saw is really about making the space for the Garden of Heroes,” Charles A. Birnbaum, founding president and CEO of the nonprofit Cultural Landscape Foundation, told the paper, adding that, however, “the Garden of Heroes is not included in the plan” and that it “feels like a placeholder for something else that’s going to be inserted.” The Cultural Landscape Foundation, headquartered in DC, was established in 1998 to educate the public about the nation’s shared landscape heritage. It calls attention to threatened sites and gives a biennial $100,000 landscape architecture prize.

Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum removed an ancient Egyptian mummified head from view because there was no “informed consent from the deceased individual,” the museum said. The move has upset some conservative politicians in Scotland, with one alleging that it is a sign of “woke madness.” According to the Times of London, the museum had previously displayed the mummified male head in its galleries. But it has now been moved to storage, and in its place is a notice reading: “We have removed human remains from this display as a mark of respect.”