Smithsonian Sidedoor

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Episodes

Date Title & Description Contributors
2024-11-13

  Bitcoin Bank Heist

Imagine this: invisible robbers break into a bank and steal massive sacks of cash, but instead of running away with it they set their haul on the front stoop of the bank in a glass case. Everyone can see the money, but only the robbers can get to it. T...
  Smithsonian Institution author
2024-10-30

  The Wide Awakes

They carried torches and marched at night. Their goal: defend free speech in America. What started as a small group of young men demonstrating during the 1860 election, snowballed into a mass movement of working-class Americans marching to end slavery....
  Smithsonian Institution author
2024-10-16

  The Devil’s Composer

Imagine Jaws without the sneaking tuba. Or Psycho without the shrieking violins. Music can help a horror film strike fear in the heart of theatergoers. And you can trace some of these musical scare tactics back to the era of SILENT films — when organis...
  Smithsonian Institution author
2024-10-02

  Bankers in the Boudoir

In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Frodo becomes invisible when he puts the Ring on his finger. Well, at banks in the 1970s, this is basically what happened when a woman put a wedding ring on her finger. Her credit cards would no longer work, and the ba...
  Smithsonian Institution author
2024-09-18

  Jim the Penman

During the mid-1800s, one third of all paper money in America was thought to be fake. It was the golden age of counterfeiting, and one exceptionally talented con artist stood out from all the rest. His fakes were nearly perfect…but for a trademark tell...
  Smithsonian Institution author
2024-09-11

  It's Season 11

Sidedoor returns for its eleventh season on Wednesday, September 18th! 
  Smithsonian Institution author
2024-08-28

  Are Robots About the Level Up?

Within just a few years, artificial intelligence systems that sometimes seem to display almost human characteristics have gone from science fiction to apps on your phone. But there’s another AI-influenced frontier that is developing rapidly and remains...
  Smithsonian Institution author
2024-08-14

  Social Media and the Subway

There aren’t many portrait artists who get recognized on the street, but it happens to Devon Rodriguez all the time. After quietly honing his skill for a decade, Devon started posting videos of his live drawings of New York City subway commuters to soc...
  Smithsonian Institution author
2024-07-31

  Archiving the Underground

Next up in our summer playlist, we bring you an episode of The Kitchen Sisters Present, a podcast featuring sound-rich stories ‘from the b-side of history.’ This one is a musical treat! The Kitchen Sisters delve into the story of the founding of the Hi...
  Smithsonian Institution author
2024-07-17

  Rocket Man

In the twentieth century, the jetpack became synonymous with the idea of a ‘futuristic society.’ Appearing in cartoons and magazines, it felt like a matter of time before people could ride a jetpack to work. But jetpacks never became a mainstream techn...
  Smithsonian Institution author