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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

This week on Sidedoor we go back to a time when the viruses were winning, and we remember one man, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, whose vaccine virtuosity helped turn the tide in the war against infectious diseases.

In the 1800s, the American diet was mostly made up of meats, potatoes, cheese, and perhaps the occasional green bean. Fruits and other veggies? Not so much.

Chris Crowe, an animal keeper for the Smithsonian, has an unlikely bond with Walnut, a female white-naped crane. Despite their obvious differences, she chose him as her mate.

Extinct species don’t usually get a do-over… but don’t tell that to the scimitar-horned oryx.

Grab your Scooby Snacks and join Sidedoor as we journey to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama to see these unusual bones firsthand and meet the “meddling kids” trying to solve a mystery 700 years in the making.

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.

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

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

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.

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.