The world’s deadliest animal isn’t the tiger, the snake, or even the alligator—it’s the mosquito.

This time on Sidedoor, we revisit some of Roxie Laybourne’s greatest cases and learn how she and her team helped keep the friendly skies friendly for both birds and people.

Tales of deception and trickery: A sneaky orchid seeks sexually frustrated pollinator; a battle fought by decoys; and a gender-bending zombie invasion of the Chesapeake Bay.

In the mid-1990s, investigators identified a mysterious and seemingly unstoppable killer. Its name? Chytrid. Its prey? Frogs.

The payoff is all in the delivery: sending mail via cruise missile; preparing a strong-willed orangutan for primate parenthood; and failing to land a joke from the “gag file” of Phyllis Diller.

This time on Sidedoor, we’ll explore our surprising relationship with whales through the lens of one species: the gray whale.

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 the invention of standardized time made America tick.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, we join forces with the National Air and Space Museum’s podcast, AirSpace, to explore the mysteries of lunar science: what we didn’t know then, and what we still don’t know today.

Squabbles big and small: A dining room turns two besties into lifelong enemies; a researcher embraces the panda craze; and why some dinosaur skulls were built to take a beating.

Behind the fossilized teeth, bones, and claws displayed in the National Museum of Natural History’s new Fossil Hall is the story of two men and a nasty feud.

Transforming things we take for granted: An astronomer who has turned the night sky into a symphony, an architecture firm that has radically rethought police stations, and an audiophile who built a successful record company on underappreciated sounds.

You probably know orchids as the big, colorful flowers found in grocery stores and given as housewarming gifts. But those tropical beauties represent only a fraction of the estimated 25,000 orchid species worldwide.

“A hippo, an orangutan, and a scientist walk into a milk bar…” or so our story goes.

For the 50th anniversary, we tell the often-overlooked story of Apollo 12, one full of danger, discovery, and the power of friendship.

Using the skills that high-society ladies were expected to have—like sewing, crafting, and knitting—Frances Glessner Lee revolutionized the male-dominated world of crime scene investigation.

Smell connects us to memories of the people and the places of our lives. But what if it could connect us to a past we’ve never experienced?

The Algal Turf Scrubber (ATS) is one of the marine ecology field’s best-kept secrets.

In this special episode of Sidedoor, we team up with the history podcast Backstory to explore two less-typical applications of the explosive: the artistic blasting at Mount Rushmore, and how anarchists used dynamite to advance their political agenda in 1886.

Search for Robert Kennicott’s name in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History collection records and you’ll find his handprint everywhere from anthropology to mammals.

In the Venn diagram of life, it’s hard to imagine what spacecraft and women’s underwear might have in common.