When designing a Denny’s on the hip, young Freemont Street in Las Vegas, Wines decided to include a chapel, which has been a big hit with the mayor and the community. Denny’s Flagship Diner, Neonopolis, Las Vegas, NV, 2012. Architecture: SITE (James Wines, Matthew Gindlesberger, Sara Stracey, Denise MC Lee). Fabrication: A. Zahner.

Architect James Wines Talks Putting a Chapel in a Denny’s and Making Art from Garbage

The outsider architect-artist has finally wooed the establishment, winning the Copper-Hewitt’s Lifetime Achievement Award, but he’s still mixing things up

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The Story Behind the Lacoste Crocodile Shirt

A 1920s French tennis star put the little reptilian logo onto a white polo shirt

The Smithsonian Folklife Archives. (Text by Leah Binkovitz. Photo by Brendan McCabe.)

Behind the Smithsonian: The Folklife Archives

You never know what you will find amidst the 50,000 recordings in the Smithsonian’s folk music collection

Would You Eat Something Wrapped in a WikiCell?

Harvard bioengineer David Edwards believes he’s found a way to cut down on packaging waste

Michael Pollan and Ruth Reichl dine at Bell & Anchor in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Michael Pollan and Ruth Reichl Hash out the Food Revolution

Be a fly in the soup at the dinner table with two of America’s most iconic food writers

Eric, left, and Ryan Berley serve up handmade jellies, nut clusters, walnut pillows, nonpareils and other goodies.

America’s Oldest Sweet Shop Gets a Hipster Makeover

How Philadelphia candymakers Eric and Ryan Berley are giving new life to Shane Confectionery

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“Pineapple”

A new poem by former poet laureate Billy Collins

Dwight Henry at his Buttermilk Drop Bakery in New Orleans.

Yeasts of the Southern Wild

Maker of the “world famous buttermilk drop,” New Orleans actor Dwight Henry is expanding his baking empire

The Amazing Grace of Underwater Portraits

Photographer Henrik Sorensen takes a fluid approach to the body in motion

As part of the Star Songs project, X-ray emissions from the EX Hydrae system (above, near center)—in which one star pulls matter from its partner—are converted into music.

How to Convert X-Rays From A Distant Star into Blues, Jazz and Classical Music

A vision-impaired scientist, her coworker, and a composer team up to transform light bursts from stars into rhythms and melodies

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The Evolution of the Treble Clef

For centuries, music notation was an inexact technique and hasty transcriptions may have resulted in this symbol

A hidden treasure–a bottle of Normandy apple cider stashed eight months earlier–is withdrawn from a hole in a rock wall in France’s Dordogne Valley. It was replaced with a Chimay Belgian ale. Want to play the game? Read this post for instructions.

Find the Beer! Bottles of Brew Await in Hiding Places in France

Bottles of strong brew lurk in rock walls and cliffs around southern France. Can you find them?

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What Animal Sounds Look Like

Mark Fischer, a software developer in California, turns data from recordings of whales, dolphins and birds into psychedelic art

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We Have Texas to Thank for the Biggest Big Gulp

The story behind the super sized soda cup in 7-Eleven stores and how it changed soft drinks forever.

How to Grow a Nanogarden

In a lab at Harvard University, Wim Noorduin cultivates microscopic crystalline flowers in glass beakers

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The Robot Revolution Is for the Birds

Look up for robotic ravens and cyborg pigeons

A massive inflatable rubber duck floats in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor, adding a flash of bright yellow to the cityscape.

Hong Kong Fell in Love With This Larger-Than-Life Rubber Duck

The popular 46-foot-tall inflatable art installation returns to Victoria Harbor

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The History of the Frozen Banana Stand

The chocolate-covered dessert was the rock of the Bluth family empire. But where did the idea come from?

Bubo the robotic owl from the 1981 film Clash of the Titans

A Brief History of Robot Birds

The early Greeks and Renaissance artists had birds on their brains

Designer Kate Jenkins goes for a mix of realism and humor in her crocheted works of art. Here, the poppy seed bagel looks quite delectable until you notice the lips on that lox.

Look, But Don’t Eat: Delicious Crocheted Dishes

This British designer crochets pizzas, veggies and cakes that look almost realistic enough to eat

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