Scientific American Frontiers

Scientific American Frontiers was an American television program primarily focused on informing the public about new technologies and discoveries in science and medicine. It was a companion program to the Scientific American magazine. The show was produced for PBS in the U.S. by The Chedd-Angier Production Company, Watertown, Massachusetts (as was its predecessor, Discover: The World of Science, a companion program to Discover magazine), and typically aired once every two to four weeks. The shows are available on-line at their website, but continue to air regularly on the national digital channel World.

Hosts

The show first aired in October 1, 1990, with MIT professor Woodie Flowers who served as the original host from 1990 to the spring of 1993. Actor Alan Alda became the permanent host starting in the fall season of 1993 and continued until the show ended in 2005. Alda's tenure has been notable for his humble and often humorous approach: in one memorable segment, he became car sick while driving an experimental, virtual reality vehicle. In 2005, Alda published his first round of memoirs, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned, published by Random House (ISBN 1-4000-6409-0); in the book, he recalls his intestines becoming strangulated while on location in Chile for the show, an incident that nearly cost him his life since he was in a remote region and it was difficult to get to a doctor. Finally he found one, who turned out to be a M*A*S*H fan. Further, the treatment (an end-to-end anastomosis following resection of the necrotic section) was familiar to Alda; the historical development of techniques for vascular anastomosis during the Korean war had featured in the show's scripts.

Format

Most programs include about three short documentaries, but some shows follow a different pattern. The show has been popular among people interested in science and technology. Some early viewers of the program who were young at the time have ended up appearing as guests in later episodes, often stating that the program inspired them to continue their scientific pursuits.

Episodes

Season 1 (1990-1991)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Episode 1	October 3, 1990
2	Episode 2	November 14, 1990
3	Episode 3	December 12, 1990
4	Special from the Soviet Union	January 9, 1991
5	Episode 5	February 27, 1991

Season 2 (1991-1992)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Episode 1	October 23, 1991
2	Episode 2	November 20, 1991
3	Episode 3	December 18, 1991
4	Special from France	January 15, 1992
5	Episode 5	February 12, 1992

Season 3 (1992-1993)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Episode 1	October 21, 1992
2	Episode 2	November 11, 1992
3	Episode 3	December 2, 1992
4	Special from Egypt and Israel	January 13, 1993
5	Episode 5	February 10, 1993

Season 4 (1993-1994)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Bionics	October 13, 1993
2	Contests	November 3, 1993
3	Science and Sports	December 1, 1993
4	Special from Germany	January 19, 1994
5	Science 911	February 16, 1994

Season 5 (1994-1995)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Life's Big Questions	October 5, 1994
2	About All You Can Eat	November 2, 1994
3	Science Italian Style	January 11, 1995
4	Prime Time Primates	February 8, 1995
5	It's A Kid World	April 29, 1995

Season 6 (1995-1996)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Wild West	October 4, 1995
2	Dragon Science	November 8, 1995
3	Flying High	January 17, 1996
4	Creatures of the Deep	February 7, 1996
5	21st Century Medicine	April 3, 1996

Season 7 (1996-1997)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Inventing the Future	October 23, 1996
2	Science Safari	November 20, 1996
3	Pieces of Mind	January 22, 1997
4	Going to Extremes	February 12, 1997
5	Robots Alive!	April 9, 1997

Season 8 (1997-1998)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Expedition Panama	October 8, 1997
2	Beyond Science?	November 19, 1997
3	Nordic Sagas	January 21, 1998
4	The Art of Science	February 18, 1998
5	The New Zoos	April 8, 1998

Season 9 (1998-1999)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Science in Paradise	October 7, 1998
2	Journey to Mars	November 11, 1998
3	Animal Einsteins	January 20, 1999
4	Life's Little Questions	February 24, 1999
5	Spiders	April 21, 1999

Season 10 (1999-2000)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Voyage to the Galapagos	October 5, 1999
2	Natural Born Robots	November 2, 1999
3	Never Say Die	January 25, 2000
4	Mediterranean on the Rocks	March 28, 2000
5	The Frontiers Decade	April 25, 2000

Season 11 (2000-2001)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Changing Your Mind	November 21, 2000
2	Superpeople	November 28, 2000
3	Life's Really Big Questions	December 19, 2000
4	Affairs of the Heart	January 23, 2001
5	Life's Little Questions II	January 30, 2001
6	Wild Places	February 6, 2001
7	The Bionic Body	March 27, 2001
8	Chimps R Us	April 3, 2001
9	Flying Free	April 10, 2001
10	Fat and Happy	May 1, 2001

Season 12 (2001-2002)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Pet Tech	October 16, 2001
2	The Gene Hunters	October 23, 2001
3	Dead Men's Tales	October 30, 2001
4	Alien Invasion	November 6, 2001
5	Growing Up Different	November 13, 2001
6	On the Ball	March 19, 2002
7	Beneath the Sea	May 14, 2002
8	Games Machines Play	May 21, 2002
9	Body Building	May 28, 2002
10	A Different Way to Heal?	June 4, 2002

Season 13 (2002-2003)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Unearthing Secret America	October 8, 2002 April 22, 2003 (R)
2	Make Up Your Mind	October 15, 2002
3	The Intimate Machine	October 22, 2002
4	Forever Wild?	November 5, 2002
5	Mysteries of the Deep	November 26, 2002
6	Deep Crisis	January 28, 2003
7	The Wonder Pill	February 18, 2003
8	Calls of the Wild	April 1, 2003
9	You Can Make It On Your Own	April 8, 2003
10	Worried Sick	June 3, 2003

Season 14 (2004)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Losing It	January 20, 2004 June 8, 2004
2	Don't Forget	May 11, 2004
3	Future Car	May 19, 2004
4	Hot Times in Alaska	June 15, 2004
5	The Dark Side of the Universe	June 22, 2004
6	Coming To America	July 20, 2004

Season 15 (2005)

No.	Episodes	Release Date
1	Surgical Slimmers	January 19, 2005 March 23, 2005 (R)
2	Cars That Think	January 26, 2005
3	Going Deep	February 2, 2005
4	Chimp Minds	February 9, 2005
5	Hot Planet-Cold Comfort	February 16, 2005
6	Hydrogen Hopes	February 23, 2005
7	Hidden Motives	March 2, 2005
8	The Secret Canyon	March 30, 2005
9	Cybersenses	April 6, 2005
10	Robot Pals	April 13, 2005

Sources

External links

• Official site - contains extra interviews, behind-the-scenes information, where all shows had been freely available for viewing.
• Scientific American Frontiers at IMDb
• Scientific American Frontiers, on season 1 of Scientific American Frontiers.