60 MINUTES

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis showed 60 Minutes Genie 2, an AI model that generates 3D interactive environments, which could be used to train robots in the not-so-distant future. https://lnkd.in/e9R9euRu #AI #DeepMind #artificiaintelligence

It took the 60 Minutes team three years of planning to produce this week's story. The window during which butterflies leave their overwintering roosts in Mexico's pine and fir trees is short and at the mercy of the weather. This year, the temperature was uncooperative for days before the team began shooting. But first, they had to get there. This year, more than 60 million monarch butterflies roosted in a four-and-a-half-acre patch of forest on the side of a mountain, 11,000 feet up. Anderson Cooper and the 60 Minutes team first rode horses, then hiked, all while carrying camera gear. "It's really a gamble," Cooper said. "You can get there, and if the weather's not cooperative, if the sun doesn't come out from the clouds, if it's too cold all day long, the monarchs aren't going to be flying around. And you really won't have much of a story if you don't see them flying." When the team finally got to the preserve where the butterflies were roosting, the weather was cloudy and cold. The fir trees did not move much. Their branches sagged downward, heavy from all the roosting butterflies, and the general appearance was brown. Monarch's characteristic orange colors are only on the top of the wings and are not visible when the butterflies' wings are closed. https://lnkd.in/ep7JMh8M #60Minutes #Butterflies #Wildlife

Jesse Cole says he sold his house and emptied his savings to create the Savannah Bananas. When the team's name was announced, people booed and called it an embarrassment to the city. Today, the team is selling out Major League Baseball (MLB) stadiums, including Fenway Park. With clips of dances going viral, the Bananas now have more TikTok followers than all 12 of last year's MLB playoff teams combined. https://lnkd.in/eav96P-s #60Minutes #SavannahBananans #BananaBall #MLB

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes the war could escalate into a world war: “If we do not stand firm, [Putin] will advance further. It is not just idle speculation; the threat is real. Putin's ultimate goal is to revive the Russian Empire and reclaim territories currently under NATO protection.” The president faces a critical moment in his alliance with the United States. In an interview this past Friday, Zelenskyy invited President Trump to Ukraine to see how Russia's unprovoked invasion, three years ago, continues to threaten the peace of the Western world. Zelenskyy is navigating a sharp turnabout in Washington. The United States had been leading NATO in arming Ukraine and isolating Russia, but since taking office, President Trump has praised the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and criticized Zelenskyy. This past Friday, a Trump official met Putin in Russia at about the same time we sat down with Zelenskyy in his hometown. https://lnkd.in/epeGYcay #60Minutes #Zelenskyy #Ukraine

How do tariffs work? President Trump says, “A tariff is a tax on a foreign country,” but most importers or economists will tell you that’s not how it works. Tariffs are not a tax on a foreign country. The tax is paid by the importer in the United States. For example, Walmart imports goods from China, and when those goods cross into the United States, Walmart pays the tariff. If Walmart decides to pass the cost to consumers, then, you paid the tariff — not China. https://lnkd.in/ed97kyrW #60Minutes #Tariffs

Tests revealed arsenic in Lynn McIntyre's home, which survived the Palisades wildfire. Lead levels 22 times higher than what the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers safe were also discovered. McIntyre’s insurance company says it will not cover cleanup costs because the damage to her home does not constitute a “direct physical loss.” She is now living in an apartment out of town, anticipating that the road home will be long. https://lnkd.in/ejMHYvuN #60Minutes #wildfire #Palisades

Launched in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda, Voice of America has been effectively shut down after President Donald Trump signed an executive order. The White House claims the U.S.-funded broadcaster is “radical propaganda.” https://lnkd.in/edfASZyG #VOA #VoiceofAmerica #Journalism #News

This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Scott Pelley reports on veterans' invisible wounds, the previously unknown brain injuries suffered by those who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. What is remarkable about these injuries is that they were not caused by large blasts from roadside bombs. New research suggests the troops were wounded by repeated, low-level, blast pressure from their own weapons. One of those injured fighters was Ryan Larkin, an elite Navy SEAL who joined right out of high school and served in four combat deployments before severe depression led him to take his own life. "This was so disturbing because here he was a highly revered and decorated SEAL operator that suddenly is coming apart at the seams," Ryan's father, Frank Larkin, said. https://lnkd.in/eBEj8C8a #60Minutes #InvisibleWounds #MilitaryMentalHealth #Veterans

CBS News history takes the Broadway stage In March 1954, Edward R. Murrow and a team of CBS News journalists sat in a dark screening room. The mood was tense. They watched an almost-final cut of an upcoming episode of their show, "See It Now," that would take direct aim at Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who had whipped up anti-communist hysteria in America. The staff was nervous to put it on the air. Murrow told them, "The terror is right here in this room. No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices." On March 9, 1954, Murrow and his team made history. In the final monologue of their broadcast, Murrow spoke directly to the camera and said these now-famous words. "We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our own history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men." Hollywood actor George Clooney will make his Broadway debut this month playing Murrow in the theatrical adaptation of "Good Night, and Good Luck," the 2005 film he co-wrote and directed about the Murrow and McCarthy saga. https://lnkd.in/ep9S-Wap #Broadway #60Minutes

Creating fake permits and lock-picking: What Herzog teaches his film students Last September, 60 Minutes joined Herzog as he taught aspiring filmmakers on the Spanish island of La Palma off the west coast of Africa; it's covered in volcanic rock and ash from an eruption three years ago. It's an 11-day workshop, which he refers to as a "film school for rogues," that's less about the fundamentals of filming, and more about poetic vision and grit. "For the rogues, I also say, 'You are able-bodied. Earn money to finance your first films. But don't earn it with clerical works in an office,'" Herzog said. "Go out and work as a bouncer in a sex club. Work as a warden in a lunatic asylum. Go out to a cattle ranch and, and learn how to milk a cow. Earn your money that way, in real life." "You do not become a poet by being in a college," he said. He teaches his "rogues" how to forge a shooting permit — something Herzog said he's done himself. "And I teach lock picking. You…have to be good at that," he said. Herzog also advises his "rogues" to carry bolt cutters everywhere. "It's not for the faint-hearted," he said. https://lnkd.in/ePu4in4T #60Minutes #Filmmaker #Documentary #FilmSchool