Science on the Edge of Chaos is an electronic information web
including a series of 12 interactive television programmes produced in English which demonstrates science in action. This series explores recent fundamental insights into chaos and complexity and examines the implications of these insights in several key areas of science and engineering.

Science on the Edge of Chaos is not a popularisation of science but is nevertheless designed to be accessible to a wide audience. Its
objective is to show that scientific study is extremely exciting at the moment and that radically new views on nature are currently being explored. The series emphasises excellence and the relevance of science and technology to our society.

There are six guiding themes which range from mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology, to the humanities, social sciences and
engineering. For each theme in Phase 1 (broadcasts 1-3) there are two different programmes, each lasting ninety minutes; in Phase 2
(broadcasts 4-6) the two programmes are 30 minutes and 90 minutes respectively.

Theme 1: The Strange Behaviour of Matter (focussing on physics, mathematics and chemistry).
Programme 1:
Concepts (sensitivity to initial conditions), Examples (chaos in the solar system), Conversations (Ilya Prigogine on irreversibility and the quantum paradox).
Programme 2:
Panel discussion with Ilya Prigogine, Ian Stewart, Heinz-Otto Peitgen and Hermann Haken.

Theme 2: The Self-Organisation of Life (focussing on medical sciences, chemistry and biology).
Programme 1:
Concepts (strange attractors), Examples (chaos in the heart and in the brain), Conversations (Manfred Eigen on the origin of life).
Programme 2:
Panel discussion with Christian de Duve, Gunter von Kiedrowsky and Stuart Kauffman.

Theme 3: Artificial Life, Virtual Reality and Real Robots (focussing on computer science, mechanical and electrical engineering).
Programme 1:
Concepts (fractals with Benoit Mandelbrot), Examples (real robots with Rodney Brooks, Hiroaki Kitano, Anita Flynn, Francesco Mondada, Mark Tilden), Conversations (Chris Langton on artificial life), Others (John Koza, Tom Ray, Luc Steels).
Programme 2:
Panel discussion with Peter Weibel, Roger Van Overstraeten and Paul Van Binst.

Theme 4: The Embodied Mind and Basics of Nonlinear Dynamics
(1st part focussing on philosophy, psychology and neurology, 2nd part explaining the fundamentals of chaos and complexity).
Part 1: Francisco Varela, CNRS Paris
Part 2: Ian Stewart, University of Warwick.

Theme 5: Social Dynamics and Do Ant Colonies Live on the Edge of Chaos?
(1st part focussing on cooperative behaviour in human societies, 2nd part on that of ants).
Part 1: Bernardo Huberman, Palo Alto Research Lab
Part 2. Brian C. Goodwin, Open University, Great Britain.

Theme 6: Nonequilibrium Economics and Chaos and Cosmology
(1st part focussing on reversing the four basic assumptions of
neoclassical economics, 2nd part on nonlinear approaches to
cosmology).
Part 1: W. Brian Arthur, Stanford University and Santa Fe
Part 2: Peter Coles, Queen Mary and Westfield College.