Alan Alda

"A child is presented with a marshmallow and given a choice: Eat this one now, or wait and enjoy two later. What will she do? And what are the implications for her behavior later in life? The world's leading expert on self-control, Walter Mischel has proven that the ability to delay gratification is critical for a successful life, predicting higher SAT scores, better social and cognitive functioning, a healthier lifestyle and a greater sense of self-worth....

Scientists are making impressive inroads into the neurology of conscious thought and the mental processes that help make up our unique identities. This episode of Scientific American Frontiers studies the brain's frontal lobe-the seat of personality and the chief determinant of what we do every waking second of the day. The program reconstructs a 150-year-old accident that caused railroad worker Phineas Gage to lose his sense of self; examines the...

In this episode of Scientific American Frontiers, host Alan Alda investigates how people create memories and how, as we age, the act of remembering becomes slippery and elusive-sometimes vanishing forever, either because of Alzheimer's disease or as a result of other neurological disorders. Alda visits two men who live entirely in the present or the distant past, unable to recall events that happened even a few minutes ago. He also meets a volunteer...

It has finally been acknowledged that the placebo effect-historically seen as a distraction from "real" medical treatment-is a genuine phenomenon and a potential addition to the arsenal of modern medicine. In this classic program from the Scientific American Frontiers series, host Alan Alda discovers that the roots of the placebo effect go back to the days of herbal remedies, that placebos can cause measurable changes in the brains of patients with...

Hydrogen may be the fuel of the future, but what would it take to safely and efficiently make the transition from fossil fuels? In this program from the Scientific American Frontiers series, host Alan Alda takes a look at two ways to use the Sun's energy to extract hydrogen; meets with Stan and Iris Ovshinsky, inventors of a hydrogen storage method involving a solid metal alloy; and makes a visit to Iceland, the country farthest along in abandoning...

A love story about divorce. A marriage coming apart and a family coming together. A hilarious and harrowing, sharply observed, and deeply compassionate film from writer-director Noah Baumbach. Charlie is a charismatic New York theater director wedded to his work. Nicole is an actor who is ready to change her own life. Their hopes for an amicable divorce fade as they are drawn into a system that pits them against each other and forces them to redefine...

Based on the true story of Robert Kearns. The Kearns' were a typical 1960s Detroit family. Bob is a college professor and part-time inventor. When Bob invents a device that would eventually be used by every car in the world, the Kearns' think they have struck gold. But their aspirations are dashed after the auto giants, who originally embraced Bob's creation, unceremoniously shuns him. Ignored, threatened and then buried in years of litigation, Bob...

James Donovan is a Brooklyn lawyer who finds himself thrust into the center of the Cold War when the CIA sends him on the near-impossible task to negotiate the release of a captured American U-2 pilot.

Basada en el best seller por el maestro de las historias Nicholas Sparks, El Viaje Más Largo te hará creer en el amor verdadero. Cuando Luke, un ex campeón de monta de toros intentando regresar, conoce a Sophia, una estudiante universitaria preparándose para su trabajo soñado en Nueva York, se embarcan en un extraordinario -- e incierto -- viaje romántico. Mientras que su camino se llena de conflictos poniendo a prueba su relación, Luke...