Advertise on podcast: Sidedoor

When the Smithsonian’s Richard Kurin learned that a museum curator found hair inside a Bible in the Smithsonian’s collections, his own hair stood on end. This wasn’t just any Bible. It was Thomas Jefferson’s personal Bible. Could the hair belong to Jefferson? If so, it might help resolve one of the oldest and most contested questions in American history: Was Thomas Jefferson the father of Sally Hemings’s children? The mystery hair sent Kurin on a years-long quest for answers. Now, he’s ready to share what he found. Join us as well follow him from the Smithsonian to Monticello, DNA laboratories, and the living rooms of Jefferson and Hemings descendants. Can scientists reconstruct a genome from a 200-year-old strand of hair? And what might that DNA reveal? Guests:  Richard Kurin, Smithsonian distinguished scholar, and ambassador-at-large Leslie Greene Bowman, president emerita of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation  Arthur (Art) Westerinen, great-great-great grandson of Sally Hemings through her son Eston Hemings  Robert Fleischer, senior scientist emeritus at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation Genomics Beth Shapiro, co-director of the Paleogenomics Lab at UC Santa Cruz Richard E. Green, professor of bimolecular engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and co-director of the Paleogenomics Lab David Miller, sixth generation descendent of Thomas Jefferson through his daughter Maria Eppes Clara Lee-Nutt, great-great-great granddaughter of Sally Hemings through her son Madison Hemings Explore More Did Thomas Jefferson Father Sally Hemings' Children? | Smithsonian Magazine

Beetles make up a quarter of all known animal life on Earth. A QUARTER! Beetles are everywhere, doing almost everything. From eating flesh off skeletons to making poop disappear, these little buggers make the world a lot less gross for the rest of us… and look cool doing it. With a little help from the Smithsonian’s beetle experts, we’ll discover why these tiny powerhouses are so wildly diverse, why Ancient Egyptians considered them sacred, and what makes a dung beetle beautiful. (Yes, really.) Get ready to see beetles in a whole new light. Just watch where you step.  Guests: Inger Toraason, osteological specimen preparator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of National History's Osteo Prep Lab Floyd Shockley, entomologist and collections manager for the Department of Entomology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History  Frank Krell, coleopterist and curator of beetles at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

When baby Asian elephant Linh Mai was born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, her mother rejected her. Then things got worse. Linh Mai couldn’t digest her formula, she was losing weight, and her care team was running out of time. Join us behind the scenes at the National Zoo to learn how curators and "turd nerds" race to save Linh Mai with an unusual treatment: a fecal microbiota transplant. But not just any poop will do! Roll up your sleeves (and pinch your nose) as we explore the extraordinary lengths people will go to save one very big baby. Guests:  Sally Bornbusch, Microbial Ecologist with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation Genomics and Department of Nutrition Science Robbie Clark, Curator and Manager for Elephant Trails at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute Erin Kendrick, Clinical Nutritionist at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Season 13 of Sidedoor is almost here! Follow us behind the scenes at the National Zoo to meet the new baby elephant, Linh Mai. We open the vaults to see some of the weirdest beetles in the collection. And we track the wild journey of the Declaration of Independence after it was signed (which was actually not on July 4, 1776). New episodes begin next week!

One of the deadliest poisons known to man is now used to treat wrinkles, migraines, and even, maybe, depression. How did that happen?  This is a special episode from Unexplainable  podcast from Vox and the Vox Media Network.  Guests:  Jean Carruthers, ophthalmologist and “godmother” of cosmetic Botox.  David Simpson, neurologist at Mount Sinai hospital in New York.  Axel Wollmer, psychiatrist at the Asklepios clinic in Hamburg, Germany.

What happens when we slow down enough to really experience art? We visit a museum to discover how slow looking at art can cultivate awe, empathy, and a greater sense of connection in a distracted world. This episode comes from the podcast The Science of Happiness.  Science of Happiness on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-science-of-happiness/id1340505607 Science of Happiness on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4dq0wmiZlk58Eu0NcqgWei?si=6756c114ff904008 Science of Happiness Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scienceofhappinesspod/ Science of Happiness Website Landing Page: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/podcasts/series/the_science_of_happiness

How do you stop being so afraid? Tracy Twombly had such a strong phobia of spiders, it was messing with her life — stressing her out while she was working at her native plant nursery or hiking through the woods. So, she embarked on a journey to make peace with her eight-legged neighbors (even the extra hairy ones). This is a special episode from the Up From Dust podcast, produced by the NPR Network, KCUR Studios, and the Kansas News Service. Artwork for this episode by, Jessica Cornelison

For more than two decades, the StoryCorps silver Airstream trailer has crisscrossed the country, recording the stories of everyday Americans. In this episode honoring the 250th anniversary of the United States, our friends at The StoryCorps Podcast introduce you to the kaleidoscope of voices that make up these United States.

In 1935, a diver searching Lake Champlain found something extraordinary: a nearly intact warship from the American Revolution. It was the Gunboat Philadelphia. In this episode, we dive into the story of how a ragtag American army built a fleet of ships to stand up against the British Navy in 1776 ... and lost. But that loss changed the course of U.S. history.  So, how did Benedict Arnold and a bunch of sailors who had never been on a boat before turn the tide in the Revolutionary War? Listen, and find out!  Guests:  Jennifer Jones, Curator and Project Director for the Gunboat Philadelphia Preservation Project at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History Kenneth Cohen, Chair of the Curatorial Division of Military and Society, and Curator of Early American History at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History This episode received support from Smithsonian's Our Shared Future: 250, a Smithsonian-wide initiative commemorating the nation's 250th. Major support for Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250 has been provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. Additional generous contributions have been made by Target, Caterpillar Foundation, and the Gates Foundation.

In the 1880s, a conservator at the Smithsonian set out for Montana to capture an American bison before the dwindling species vanished forever. He returned with six taxidermied bison that he displayed in the museum.  The bison diorama wowed visitors so much that it helped kickstart a movement to save the species. But then, just like that, the stuffed bison vanished!  Where did they go?  With the nation's 250th birthday fast approaching, the director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History set out to find the missing bison. It's a journey that led west —where it all began— and ended on the steps of the museum.  Guests:  Kirk Johnson, Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History Siobhan Starrs, Senior Project Manager and Exhibition Developer at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History  Jonny BearCub Stiffarm, Volunteer with the Fort Peck Tribal Bison program in Montana. Member of the Assiniboine Nation and a former Buffalo Program administrator at the World Wildlife Fund  Jim Wood, Assistant Director for Communications at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History This episode received support from Smithsonian's Our Shared Future: 250, a Smithsonian-wide initiative commemorating the nation's 250th. Major support for Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250 has been provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. Additional generous contributions have been made by Target, Caterpillar Foundation, and the Gates Foundation.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III has spent a lifetime thinking about how history gets told. Before becoming the head of the Smithsonian, he was a curator, someone whose job is deciding which stories, people, and objects help us make sense of ourselves. So as America approaches its 250th birthday, Lizzie wanted to know: if you had to tell the story of the United States through just a handful of things, where would you begin? In this special episode, Secretary Bunch puts his curator hat back on to lead Lizzie through American Aspirations, a new exhibition he co-curated. Starting with the desk on which the Declaration of Independence was drafted, they get up close with some of the nation's most treasured objects: Abraham Lincoln campaign swag, Amelia Earhart's flight suit, Thomas Edison's light bulb, and even a miniature Statue of Liberty (which is still pretty big!). What can these objects reveal about a nation still striving to become its best self? Guest: Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution The American Aspirations exhibition at the Smithsonian Castle was co-curated by Smithsonian Secretary Bunch — alongside Abeer Saha, curator at the National Museum of American History, and Harry Rubenstein, curator emeritus at the National Museum of American History. American Aspirations received support from Jacqueline B. Mars and the Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250, a Smithsonian-wide initiative commemorating the nation’s 250th. Major support for Our Shared Future: 250 has been provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. Additional contributions have been made by Target and the Gates Foundation. To watch a video version of this podcast find us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/smithsonian

A screw. A stuffed possum. A shoe-sizing device. What could any of these objects possibly tell us about the history of the United States? When we think of historic artifacts, we tend to picture the extraordinary: Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch, the original Kermit the Frog, Martin Luther King Jr.'s draft of the "I Have a Dream" speech. But the story of America can just as easily be found in the everyday objects that shape our lives. In this bonus episode, Lizzie sits down with Roman Mars to talk about his new series, A History of the United States in 100 Objects. Together, they explore how ordinary things can reveal distinctly American stories. Guests:  Roman Mars, host and creator of 99% Invisible  To pitch your object to Roman’s team, write to [email protected]

Everyone thought ghosts lived in the basement of Stockton, California's old Daguhoy Lodge. So, nobody went down there. But when one man refused to be spooked, he made a discovery that would bring the ghosts back to life.  In this episode, we explore how an accidental discovery resurrected the stories of a nearly forgotten generation of Filipino immigrants who came to work in the fields. Why did these men leave behind steamer trunks that remained unopened for decades? And what could we learn from the belongings found inside?   We'll unpack the steamer trunks and dust off a fading piece of American history as we dive into the stories of these farmworkers and their surprising sense of fashion.  Guests:  Sam Vong, Curator of Asian Pacific American History at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Dillon Delvo, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Little Manila Rising in South Stockton, California Phillip Merlo, a historian and educator who serves as the Executive Director of the San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum

How did a car with chopped suspension and hydraulics become a symbol of pride and self-expression for an entire community? We'll cruise back in time to see how lowriders emerged from the post-WWII car craze and became a powerful symbol of Mexican American pride. It's a long road with a few speed bumps, but lowriders are now more popular than ever (especially in Japan!) So, lean your seat back and see how chrome, paint, and a dose of defiance turned classic cars into rolling works of art that have cruised their way into the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.  Learn more about the Smithsonian's exhibition on Lowriders — Corazón y vida — HERE  This project received federal support from the Smithsonian Latino Initiative Pool, administered by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino.

At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, archivists are working with Native communities to correct the historical record … one photo at a time. In this episode, we go inside the archives, where century-old photographs once labeled “Indian man” or “woman in costume” are being reexamined and renamed so they can be reconnected to living descendants. It’s a painstaking effort that’s also challenging the romanticized imagery popularized by photographers and anthropologists of the late 1800s, early 1900s.  Think there might be photos of your ancestors in the Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives? Check here: https://sova.si.edu/ You can read about the Smithsonian's Ethical Returns and Shared Stewardship Policy here: https://ncp.si.edu/SI-ethical-returns To submit a shared stewardship or ethical return inquiry or request, complete this form: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7447374/Shared-Stewardship-and-Ethical-Returns-Inquiry-Request-Submission-Form  If you have questions about the policy, contact [email protected]. Guests:  Emily Moazami, head archivist at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Archive Center Nathan Sowry, reference archivist at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Archive Center Rachel Menyuk, processing archivist at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Archive Center Special thanks to the Harmon Family: Leonard Harmon, Pam Pierce Harmon Johnston, Mike Harmon and Matthew Harmon