60 Minutes

• 05/11/2025: Fraud, To Walk Again, Jamie Lee Curtis

  Correspondent Cecilia Vega reports on rampant fraud in government programs like unemployment, food stamps, disaster aid and more. With few safeguards at state and federal levels, taxpayers are falling victim to complex schemes carried out by scammers, hackers and transnational criminal organizations, costing the government hundreds of billions of dollars each year. For people who’ve suffered traumatic spinal cord injuries that have caused paralysis, positive news has been scarce. However, as correspondent Anderson Cooper discovers, innovative technology now in an early clinical trial is allowing participants to stand up and walk or move their arms – by thinking about it. Cooper reports from the NeuroRestore research lab in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he meets the team leading this groundbreaking research and hears the stories of patients enrolled in the trial. Jamie Lee Curtis has been making movies for almost 50 years. Not surprising for a child born into Hollywood royalty. But to hear her tell it, leaving school as a teenager, only to graduate into an A-list movie star before she was 30, was never the plan. Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi talks with Curtis in Los Angeles about her long career in tinsel town and about her recent wave of award-winning performances that came to her in her 60’s. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• 05/04/2025: The Rule of Law and Freezing the Biological Clock

  On the campaign trail, President Trump vowed to wield the power of the presidency to go after his perceived enemies. Now in the White House, Trump is using Executive Orders to target some of the biggest law firms in the country that he accuses of “weaponizing” the justice system against him. Correspondent Scott Pelley reports on the law firms picked out by the President and the different ways they’re responding to White House pressure. Fertility rates in the United States are currently near historic lows, largely because fewer women are having children in their 20s. As women delay starting families, many are opting for egg freezing, the process of retrieving and freezing unfertilized eggs, to preserve their fertility for the future. Does egg freezing provide women with a way to pause their biological clock? Correspondent Lesley Stahl interviews women who have decided to freeze their eggs and explores what the process entails physically, emotionally, and financially.  She also speaks with fertility specialists and an ethicist about success rates, equity issues, and the increasing market potential of egg freezing. This is a double-length segment. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• 04/27/2025: NIH, Evidence, The Land of Declining Sons

  In its ongoing mission to shrink the federal government, the Trump administration has cut more than a thousand jobs and billions in research grants from America’s crown jewel of medical research - the National Institutes of Health. While other administrations have tried to downsize the NIH before, leaked Trump administration documents show plans to reduce the NIH budget by more than 40 percent, sending shockwaves throughout the scientific community. Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi sits down with the former director of the NIH, Dr. Francis Collins, as well as a researcher and an NIH insider who all say these measures could jeopardize the health of Americans for generations to come. Evidence has emerged that could change our understanding of the 9/11 terrorist attacks more than two decades ago. A 60 Minutes investigation has found that crucial information, initially turned over to the FBI shortly after the attacks, was never shared with the bureau's own field agents or senior intelligence officials. Correspondent Cecilia Vega reports on this evidence, which has come to light amid a lawsuit against the Saudi government filed by families of the nearly 3,000 victims and includes a video of a Saudi national filming the U.S. Capitol, thought to be al-Qaeda's fourth target. The world’s population may have recently surpassed eight billion, but it’s a misleading figure. Growth is unevenly distributed, and many countries are experiencing a decline in population—in some cases, steeply. Consider Japan. The country with the fourth largest economy is now facing a rapidly declining birth rate, and a population projected to shrink in half by this century's end. Correspondent Jon Wertheim reports from Japan, examining how these demographic changes are affecting the country and its culture. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• 04/20/2025: Bird Flu, Demis Hassabis, Flight of the Monarchs

  Bird flu, which has long been an emerging threat, took a significant turn in 2024 with the discovery that the virus had jumped from a wild bird to a cow. In just over a year, the pathogen has spread through dairy herds and poultry flocks across the United States. It has also infected people, resulting in 70 confirmed cases, including one fatality. Correspondent Bill Whitaker spoke with veterinarians and virologists who warn that, if unchecked, this outbreak could lead to a new pandemic. They also raise concerns about the Biden administration’s slow response in 2024 and now the Trump administration’s decision to lay off over 100 key scientists. Demis Hassabis, a pioneer in artificial intelligence, is shaping the future of humanity. As the CEO of Google DeepMind, he was first interviewed by correspondent Scott Pelley in 2023, during a time when chatbots marked the beginning of a new technological era. Since that interview, Hassabis has made headlines for his innovative work, including using an AI model to predict the structure of proteins, which earned him a Nobel Prize. Pelley returns to DeepMind’s headquarters in London to discuss what’s next for Hassabis, particularly his leadership in the effort to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) – a type of AI that has the potential to match the versatility and creativity of the human brain.  One of the most awe-inspiring and mysterious migrations in the natural world is currently taking place, stretching from Mexico to the United States and Canada. This incredible spectacle involves millions of monarch butterflies embarking on a monumental aerial journey. Correspondent Anderson Cooper reports from the mountains of Mexico, where the monarchs spent the winter months sheltering in trees before emerging from their slumber to take flight. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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• 04/13/2025: Zelenskyy, Greenland, Banana Ball

  Correspondent Scott Pelley interviews Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kryvyi Rih, his hometown, where last week nine children were killed on a playground in a missile attack. They discuss U.S. support for Ukraine, the state of the war, and the Oval Office dust up with the Trump administration.  Until President Donald Trump expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, the Danish-controlled territory had long been overlooked. Now, the world's largest island, home to a majority Indigenous Inuit population of 57,000 residents, has suddenly become a reluctant focal point in global geopolitics. Correspondent Jon Wertheim bundles up to explore the rich history and breathtaking landscapes of a bitingly cold region that has found itself at the center of a rapidly evolving hotspot. Something unusual is going on in Major League Baseball stadiums across the country this season, and it isn’t traditional baseball.  Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports from Savannah, Georgia on the dancing, back-flipping, lip-syncing almost-baseball team, the Savannah Bananas.  They’ve created a new twist on the sport, which they call Banana Ball.  Among its rules: a 2-hour time limit; no bunting, walks, or mound visits; and if a fan catches a foul ball, it’s an out.  Stahl meets Banana Ball’s unorthodox, yellow-clad founder, Jesse Cole, and discovers the electric, circus-meets-sporting-event atmosphere that is selling out ballparks. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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