# Scientific American Frontiers

Scientific American Frontiers was an American science television program aired by PBS from 1990 to 2005. The show was a companion program to the Scientific American magazine, and primarily covered new technology and discoveries in science and medicine. The Chedd-Angier Production Company, which had recently produced Discover: The World of Science, produced the show for PBS. Frontiers typically aired once every two to four weeks.

## Hosts

The show first aired on October 1, 1990, with MIT professor Woodie Flowers hosting until the spring of 1993. Actor Alan Alda became the permanent host from the fall season of 1993 and continued until the show ended in 2005. The show was also billed as Alan Alda in Scientific American Frontiers. In one segment, Alda became car sick while driving an experimental, virtual reality vehicle. In 2005, in his memoir, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned, Alda recalls his intestines becoming strangulated while in the mountains of Chile for the show, an incident in which he nearly died due to the remote location.

## Format

Most programs included three short documentaries, but some shows follow a different pattern. Some young viewers of the program later appeared as adult guests in later series, stating that the program inspired them to continue their scientific pursuits. The shows are now available online at the Chedd-Angier website.

## Episodes
### Season 1 (1990–91)

| 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 (1991–92)

| 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 (1992–93)

| 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 (1993–94)

| 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 (1994–95)

| 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 5, 1995 |

### Season 6 (1995–96)

| 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 (1996–97)

| 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 (1997–98)

| 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 15, 1998 |

### Season 9 (1998–99)

| 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 (2000–01)

| 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 (2001–02)

| 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 (2002–03)

| No. | Episodes | Release Date |
| 1 | Unearthing Secret America | October 8, 2002 |
| 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 |
| 2 | Don't Forget | May 11, 2004 |
| 3 | Future Car | May 18, 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 |
| 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 |