Scientific American Frontiers on PBS

Host Alan Alda gets up-close and personal with computers as he tracks efforts at MIT's Media Lab to make them “act more like living things.” Included: a “virtual playmate” that one day, its developers hope, will be able to spot abilities in kids and nurture them; and computers programmed to act like dogs and wolves that enable scientists to study the nature of intelligence and emotion. Then there's Leonardo, a computer-driven movie robot that Alda calls “a collaboration between Hollywood chutzpah and MIT know-how.”