Latest Air and space Podcast Episodes
Get Off My Lawn
Sidedoor - May 10, 2023 04:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsNowhere in the world are lawns as revered as they are in the United States. The picture-perfect patch of grass is so deeply rooted in the American psyche it feels more like a default setting than a choice. Americans spend countless hours every year seeding, watering, mowing, and fertili...
Bill Nye the Sidedoor Guy
Sidedoor - April 26, 2023 04:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsAs a kid, Bill Nye spent whole days wandering the halls of Smithsonian museums. Now the Science Guy is back… to find his own blue lab coat and periodic table bowtie on display at the National Museum of American History. We sit down with Bill Nye to get schooled on science education, com...
Space Marathon
Sidedoor - April 12, 2023 04:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsUntil the 1970s, women were barred from competing in U.S. marathons because of the belief that the "violent movements" would wreak havoc on their reproductive system, "thus defeating a woman’s true purpose in life, i.e., the bringing forth of strong children." Through a series of steps,...
Monsoon Mood
Sidedoor - March 29, 2023 04:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsWe think of paintings as art, but can they also be a source of data? 300 years ago, a young prince inherited the throne in Udaipur, India, and brought with him some newfangled ideas about art. His court artists created massive paintings that flew in the face of convention, documenting r...
Lights Out
Sidedoor - March 15, 2023 04:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsMost people in North America can't see the Milky Way. The reason? We're ensconced in a luminous fog of artificial lighting 24/7. The evolution of lighting technology over the last century has made it possible to live, work, and play at any hour - day or night. But light pollution affect...
The Phantom Violins
Sidedoor - March 01, 2023 05:00 - 35 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsWhen Sidedoor listener Cliff Hall bought a used violin, he found a tattered note tucked alongside the century-old instrument. Obsessed with this cryptic piece of paper, Cliff’s quest to find the owner of the violin unlocked a tale of subterfuge, scandal, and the Smithsonian’s first dona...
It’s Season Nine!
Sidedoor - February 22, 2023 14:30 - 1 minute ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsSidedoor returns for its ninth season on Wednesday, March 1st!
Love Letters
Sidedoor - February 09, 2023 05:00 - 13 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsThey bring out the voyeur in us. And the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art is full of them. In three short letters, we offer a glimpse of tender moments in the complex lives of others. Guests: Josh T. Franco, Head of Collecting at the Archives of American Art. Liza Kirwin, Inter...
The Cabbage Patch Kids Riots
Sidedoor - January 25, 2023 05:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsIn 1983, the Cabbage Patch Kids were released, causing widespread pandemonium in toy stores and in the media. How did a children's toy inspire such bad adult behavior? Slate’s Decoder Ring podcast explores the strange world of the Cabbage Patch Kids to figure out why they hit it so big....
King's Speech
Sidedoor - January 11, 2023 05:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsThis MLK Day we're digging into the story behind Dr. King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech —from its first draft to a rhyming poem and, finally, to the speech we all know today. This episode was previously released in February of 2022.
The Monumental Imagination of Augusta Savage
Sidedoor - December 28, 2022 05:00 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsPublic monuments to honor Black Americans in the 1930s: that was the vision of Augusta Savage, a Harlem Renaissance sculptor who has been called one of the most influential artists of the 21st century. But the monuments she left behind might not be what you'd expect. Guests: Karen Lem...
A Very Merry Sidedoor
Sidedoor - December 14, 2022 05:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsWhat is it about a mistletoe that says “smooch?” And what the heck is figgy pudding anyway? The holidays are here again, and with them come songs, foods, and rituals so familiar we may not think to ask where they come from...until now! In this holiday special, we track down the origins ...
Lucy Hicks Anderson
Sidedoor - November 30, 2022 05:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsKnown for her smashing parties, lighter-than-air souffles and comedic wit, Lucy Hicks Anderson never let anyone tell her how to live her life – not even the courts. When her gender was put on trial in the 1940s, the publicity around her case made her one the first documented Black trans...
Reservation Math: Navigating Love in Native America
Sidedoor - November 16, 2022 05:00 - 33 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsIf you’ve heard the phrase, “full blooded,” you’re already familiar with the concept of blood quantum. But Native Americans are the only peoples in the United States whose identity is defined by it. Through the photography of Tailyr Irvine, displayed at the National Museum of the Americ...
Wronging the Wrights
Sidedoor - November 02, 2022 04:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsIt took pride, deceit, and a giant catapult to set off the feud between the Wright brothers and the Smithsonian. On December 17, 1903, the Wrights made history when they flew across a blustery beach in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The airplane they flew that day is now a centerpiece of t...
Who Built the White House?
Sidedoor - October 19, 2022 04:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratings"I wake up every morning in a house built by slaves." After Michelle Obama said those words at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, thousands of Americans flooded the White House Historical Association with calls. Who were the enslaved African Americans who built the White House? Th...
Spooked at the Smithsonian
Sidedoor - October 05, 2022 04:00 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsThe Smithsonian Institution was founded on principles of reason and scientific inquiry. So why is the museum home to countless tales of unexplained phenomena and —dare we say — ghost sightings? Inspired by an apparition at the National Museum of American History, we creak across the flo...
Did Meat Make Us Human?
Sidedoor - September 21, 2022 04:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsEating meat is what made us human. At least, that's one of the leading theories to explain how our brains got so big. The theory says that our human ancestors evolved bigger brains as a result of switching from a plant-based to a nutrient-rich meat diet. But earlier this year a Smithson...
Love in the Time of Emoji
Sidedoor - September 07, 2022 04:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsWhen LOL just isn't enough to respond to a friend's killer joke, emoji are there for you. But for many people, there isn't an emoji to represent them or the things they want to say. This has pushed activists, designers, and straight up regular folks to create their own emoji. It's not a...
Dynamo Dot
Sidedoor - August 24, 2022 04:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsDorothy Liebes was a whirlwind in the weaving world. Throughout the 1930s, she spun luxury fabrics so bold and colorful that their style could only be described as the "Liebes Look." But when the United States entered World War II, she wondered how an artist like herself could be helpfu...
Sumo Wrestlers vs. Firefighters
Sidedoor - August 10, 2022 04:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsIn 19th century Japan, two sumo wrestlers faced down dozens of firefighters in a brawl so epic it inspired a Kabuki play. But the story of what really happened —and who the heroes are— is all a matter of perspective. Underdogs, antiheroes and villains. How do we decide who plays what ro...
Culture in Crisis
Sidedoor - July 27, 2022 04:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratings"This is a war not only for the territory. This is war against our culture," says Ihor Poshyvailo, director of the Maidan Museum in Kiev, Ukraine. Ukraine has scores of museums, cemeteries, archeological sites, and places of worship where Ukrainian history and national identity are memo...
Hubble Trouble
Sidedoor - July 13, 2022 04:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsAs NASA releases the James Webb Space Telescope's first images, we focus our lens on its predecessor: the Hubble Space Telescope. Prepare for liftoff, as we explore how America's first large space telescope went from a "billion-dollar blunder" to one of history's most important scientif...
A Star-Spangled Bonus Episode
Sidedoor - July 04, 2022 04:00 - 14 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsWhich came first, the flag or the song? Sidedoor is celebrating this Independence Day with a special bonus episode: the story behind our Star-Spangled Banner. Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History military curator Jennifer Jones explains the origin and meaning behind the nat...
The Sex Lives of Giant Pandas
Sidedoor - June 15, 2022 04:00 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsWhether it's live on the Smithsonian’s National Zoo's panda cam or in front of a crowd, possibly no other animal's sex life is as closely watched as the giant pandas' is. And there's a reason. These cuddly-looking black and white bears just can't figure out how to mate. But, with a litt...
It’s Season Eight!
Sidedoor - June 08, 2022 19:50 - 1 minute ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsSidedoor returns for its eighth season on Wednesday, June 15th!
Bonus: Yes She Did!
Sidedoor - June 01, 2022 04:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsWe’re hard at work producing the next season of Sidedoor, but just in case you can’t get enough Smithsonian podcasts we’re sharing a special guest episode of Portraits, from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. In this episode, grassroots organizer Dolores Huerta talks about how...
Bonus: Black Feminism Re-rooted
Sidedoor - May 18, 2022 04:00 - 18 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsWe’re hard at work producing the next season of Sidedoor, but just in case you can’t get enough Smithsonian podcasts, we’re sharing a special guest episode of Collected, from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. In this first episode of the series, co-hosts Dr. Crystal...
Bonus: Moonshine
Sidedoor - May 04, 2022 04:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsWe’re hard at work producing the next season of Sidedoor, but just in case you can’t get enough Smithsonian podcasts, we’re sharing a special guest episode of AirSpace, from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. This story is about a truly intoxicating period of American hist...
The Many Inventions of Beatrice Kenner
Sidedoor - April 06, 2022 04:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 2K ratingsAn accident that nearly killed Beatrice Kenner when she was five years old scarred her face for life, but it also gave her a determination to create solutions wherever she saw obstacles. This drive and ingenuity made her one of the most prolific African American inventors of the mid 20t...
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