Sidedoor

Series produced by Smithsonian

Series image

Sidedoor is a podcast only the Smithsonian can bring you. It tells stories about science, art, history, humanity and where they unexpectedly overlap. From dinosaurs to dining rooms, this podcast connects big ideas to the people who have them.

For more info, check out si.edu/sidedoor.


Additional Files

17 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Wild Orchid Mystery
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
You probably know orchids as the big, colorful flowers found in grocery stores and given as housewarming gifts. But those tropical beauties represe...

Bought by Morton College Radio and WCNY


  • Added: Aug 07, 2019
  • Length: 22:47
  • Purchases: 2
Season 4, Ep. 4: Things You'd Never Tell Your Parents
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
Regie Cabico has been called the Lady Gaga of spoken word poetry—he's outspoken, provocative, and iconoclastic. The son of Filipino immigrants, he ...

  • Added: Jul 25, 2019
  • Length: 19:43
The Feather Detective
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
In 1960, investigators found dark bits of feather stuck inside a crashed airplane's engines. They needed someone to figure out what bird they belon...

Bought by C89.5 - KNHC Seattle, KSFR, KVSC, KBUT Crested Butte, Colo., and KICI Iowa City


  • Added: Mar 28, 2019
  • Length: 27:16
  • Purchases: 5
Killer Viruses and One Man's Mission to Stop Them
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
In 1918, a flu pandemic killed more than 50 million people worldwide. Forty years later, it nearly happened again. This week on Sidedoor we go back...

Bought by KVSC, WXAV 88.3FM Chicago, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 26, 2018
  • Length: 21:35
  • Purchases: 3
Enslaved and Muslim in Early America
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
Today, the US population is about 1% Muslim, but in the late 1700s that number was likely closer to 5%. Who were these early Muslim-Americans, wher...

Bought by KISU and PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 01, 2018
  • Length: 29:52
  • Purchases: 2
Sidedoor Presents: AirSpace
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
Join Sidedoor in welcoming AirSpace, a new gravity-defying podcast from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Hosts Emily Martin and Mat...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Jan 18, 2018
  • Length: 17:58
  • Purchases: 1
The Art of War
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
In this episode, we look at artists whose work has helped reveal the human side of war. You’ll hear about a famous artist who got his start sketchi...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 20, 2017
  • Length: 23:14
  • Purchases: 1
Red, White and Brew
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
More than 154 million treasures fill the Smithsonian’s vaults, but where public view ends, Sidedoor begins. With the help of biologists, artists, h...

Bought by KISU


  • Added: Jul 06, 2017
  • Length: 25:09
  • Purchases: 1
If These Bones Could Talk
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
A forensic mystery, 135 years in the making.

Bought by KISU and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 21, 2017
  • Length: 26:29
  • Purchases: 2
Shake It Up
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
Transforming things we take for granted: an astronomer who has turned the night sky into a symphony; an architecture firm that has radically re-tho...

  • Added: Jan 18, 2017
  • Length: 23:53
You Do You
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
Identity in a complex world: a look at the many roles each person plays in daily life; a group of lesbian feminists create an entirely new culture,...

Bought by KALW and KRZA


  • Added: Jan 04, 2017
  • Length: 19:22
  • Purchases: 2
Gaming the System
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
Bending the rules: people sending their children through the U.S. Postal Mail; a Sikh man in the early 1900s tries to use the Supreme Court's racis...

  • Added: Dec 22, 2016
  • Length: 21:34
Butting Heads
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
Squabbles big and small: two besties turn into lifelong enemies over a dining room; a researcher embraces the panda craze; and why some dinosaur sk...

  • Added: Dec 08, 2016
  • Length: 18:27
Masters of Disguise
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
Tales of deception and trickery: sneaky orchid seeks sexually-frustrated pollinator; a battle fought by decoys; and a gender-bending zombie invasio...

Bought by WCNY


  • Added: Nov 23, 2016
  • Length: 17:58
  • Purchases: 1
Confronting the Past
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
A 1921 riot destroyed almost 40 blocks of a wealthy black neighborhood in North Tulsa, Oklahoma. No one knows how many people died, no one was ever...

Bought by WCNY and WRIR


  • Added: Nov 09, 2016
  • Length: 22:24
  • Purchases: 2
Special Delivery
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
The payoff is all in the delivery: sending mail via cruise missile; preparing a strong-willed orangutan for primate parenthood; and failing to land...

  • Added: Oct 27, 2016
  • Length: 22:07
Tech Yourself
From: Smithsonian
Series: Sidedoor
Piece image
Technology's grip on us: the 4-1-1 on what's behind your selfie; an artist's computer simulation shows humans aren't as unique as we think; and how...

Bought by WCNY


  • Added: Oct 27, 2016
  • Length: 20:52
  • Purchases: 1

Playlists That Feature This Series: