“Hot Now!” Who can resist the warm neon glow of a Krispy Kreme sign?
The iconic sign arouses images of perfect O’s passing through curtains of syrupy glaze and melt-in-your-mouth bliss. The automation that makes the doughnuts predictably delicious in bakeries across the country is as much a part of the allure as the red, green and white double-pointed sign.
At the National Museum of American History, the Ring King Jr., Krispy Kreme’s first automated doughnut-making apparatus, lies in state, a testament to the booming success of the American brand. The contraption was invented by the culinary wizards at Krispy Kreme to ensure consistently perfect treats, as stores opened across the country to meet the burgeoning demand.
ORCHIDS AND THE SCIENCE OF ATTRACTION
Tom Miranda, a horticulturist with the Smithsonian, has been seduced by his subjects: Orchidaceae. At the Smithsonian’s Horticulture Services Division, Miranda tenderly nurtures more than 10,000 varieties of orchids. Maintaining thousands of orchids isn’t all pretty colors and blooms. It’s also dirt under the fingernails and clippers, the dishes and the laundry of horticulture. But those coquettish lovelies use their beauty to get what they need: sex — or more appropriately, reproduction. Each orchid is designed by evolution to attract the specific insect that will spread its pollen.
It’s estimated that 25,000 distinct varieties of orchids exist, with infusions added every year of new hybrids bred by hobbyists and botanists. The Smithsonian itself has close to 10,000 different species and carefully selects new acquisitions each year.
A stunning collection of these orchids are currently on display at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
THE WORLD’S FIRST VIDEOGAME: IT WASN’T PONG
At age 40, the first video game is over the hill. The unassuming Brown Box console hiding in the Smithsonian vaults is the first draft of a device that revolutionized the way we interact with our television sets and launched a multibillion-dollar industry.
Inventor Ralph Baer studied television in college and resolved to reinvent the “boob tube,” making it interactive. Years later he developed the first video game. The Brown Box is a set of dual dial controllers connected to a circuit box covered in wood grain contact paper that pits two players against each other. It came with several games, including one that resembled ping-pong.
Baer’s little Brown Box inspired subsequent inventors and laid the groundwork for “Pong,” which took the nation by storm.
THE ARTFUL CODE THE CIA CAN’T CRACK
He barely squeaked through high school math, but now sculptor James Sanborn creates intricate cryptograms in language and code-focused works. One of his most mysterious pieces resides at the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art.
Sanborn’s “Antipodes” sculpture continues to intrigue and vex code-breakers and visitors alike. Since the piece debuted in 1997, experts and novices have untangled much of the hidden message, yet 96 characters still remain encoded.
The sculpture is composed of a curved copper panel riddled with English characters and juxtaposed with a second panel containing Russian letters that represent the pair of drastic opposites implied by the title. The piece alludes to Cold War tension between the United States and Russia.
LIFE AT THE TOP...OF THE RAINFOREST
No, Tom isn’t flying; he’s enjoying a lift on Smithsonian’s Canopy Access System.
In the biologically dense habitat of Panama, a crane soaring more than 250 feet off the murky forest floor into the sunny forest canopy acts as a forest elevator, taking some of the guesswork out of fieldwork. Its pivoting arm can take passengers to any branch within a 125-foot radius, allowing for repeated trials and examination of specimens.
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute erected the first Canopy Access System in 1990 in Panama. The innovation allows STRI ecologists, botanists and entomologists to effortlessly climb above the treetops in a cab suspended from a massive crane nearly identical to those used in the construction of skyscrapers.
ENDANGERED ART
“Lick” and “Lather,” sculpted by Janine Antoni in 1993, are giving conservators at the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art a headache. The problem: “Lick” is a bust made of chocolate; “Lather” is made of soap.
This isn’t the frustration associated with keeping patrons from biting the nose off of “Lick,” though that happened once. The real problem is that both chocolate and soap deteriorate over time, which raises a serious question for Hirshhorn conservators: To save, or not to save? Some modern art is intentionally ephemeral, here and then gone (think Cristo, the wrap man). “Lick” and “Lather” are more complicated. Their composition was indeed a statement by the artist, but they weren’t designed to decay. What happens next is up to Hirshhorn conservators and the artist herself.
FLESH EATING BEETLES
You won’t see the African dermestid beetle on display at the Smithsonian, but chances are they had a lot to do with the skeletal artifacts you came to see.
Inside the “Bug Room” of Smithsonian’s osteo-prepatory lab, flesh-eating African dermestid beetles meticulously pick the bones of carcasses clean. These critters have been doing the dirty work for museums since the early 1900s.
John Ososky is charged with managing the flesh-eating beetles and getting animal carcasses gussied up, or better put, dressed down, for their future in the Smithsonian’s hallowed halls. Once they are pared down to bare bones, the specimens are given a touch-up cleaning job, numbered, reassembled and placed into the appropriate collection.
