60 Minutes

Elemental Crisis – In what might be the ultimate front of the U.S. trade war with China, correspondent Jon Wertheim reports from the only active rare earth mine in the U.S., deep in the Mojave Desert near the California-Nevada border. Today, China holds a near-monopoly over the strategic metals that are key components in smartphones, robotics and EVs, but also fighter jets, drones and radar technology. Wertheim looks at the private company, now partly owned by the federal government, that is ramping up rare earth mining, processing, and magnet-making in response to China's threats to cut off rare earth exports. Graham Messick is the producer. 

Turning the Ship Around – Shipbuilding in the United States has been decimated over the decades by shortsighted policies and neglect. Today, the U.S. builds about three large cargo ships a year while China rolls out around 1,000. The Trump administration has called this a national security crisis and is making it a priority to revive the American shipbuilding industry. One solution comes from our ally, South Korea. Hanwha, the Korean ship-making giant, is hoping to help resurrect the industry in the U.S. by buying and reviving the Philadelphia shipyard. Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports from Hanwha's shipyards in Korea and Philadelphia. Shachar Bar-On and Jinsol Jung are the producers. 

The Dog Aging Project – Progress in treating diseases of aging, such as Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, has been difficult, and a new research initiative finds that dogs could help change that. Scientists are discovering that the biology of aging in our canine companions has striking parallels to human aging. Our dogs develop many of the same diseases we do and have remarkably similar brain structures. Correspondent Anderson Cooper reports on the Dog Aging Project that is collecting data on more than 50,000 dogs across the country in hopes of providing insight into both canine and human disease and revealing pathways to help humans and our four-legged friends live longer, healthier lives. Denise Schrier Cetta is the producer.

First, investigating the D.C. midair plane crash. Then, drone arms race transforming modern warfare. And, Son Doong, the world's largest cave passage.

Return to RAM – As the affordable care marketplace has seen premiums rise and Medicaid faces its biggest cuts ever, correspondent Scott Pelley revisits one charity, Remote Area Medical, that delivers aid to Americans cut off from healthcare by location and cost. At one of RAM's free pop-up clinics, Pelley meets patients sleeping in their cars and standing in line, many hundreds of miles from their homes, in desperate need of care. Henry Schuster and Sarah Turcotte are the producers.

Ghost Train – Countries around the world have built high-speed rail – why has it failed to catch on in the U.S.? An ambitious state-run project connecting L.A. and San Francisco is vastly behind schedule and has seen costs balloon. One private company is hoping to succeed where the public sector hasn't – but that too faces challenges. Correspondent Jon Wertheim reports on the state of high-speed rail in the U.S., which has become a stand-in for a broader question: can America still build big things? David M. Levine is the producer.

The Mardi Gras Indians – Every year on Mardi Gras, Black revelers roam the backstreets of New Orleans in dazzling hand-sewn suits that take an entire year to create. Correspondent Bill Whitaker meets the Mardi Gras Indians, also known as Black Masking Indians, one of America's last secret societies, who are preserving a culture that dates to at least the 1800s. It's a tradition marked by resilience and resistance that honors their ancestors. Nichole Marks is the producer.

Pope Leo's Church – Nearly one year after the election of Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV, Norah O'Donnell speaks with three of the most influential American cardinals in their first joint interview about how Pope Leo's church has emerged as a voice of moral opposition to the war with Iran and against the crackdown on immigration in the U.S. O'Donnell interviews Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago; Cardinal Robert McElroy, Archbishop of Washington, D.C.; and Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, NJ, about the effect Pope Leo is having on the Catholic Church. She also travels to Italy to visit Castel Gandolfo, the 400-year-old papal summer retreat. Continuing the work of his predecessor, Pope Francis, Pope Leo is opening the property up to the world to create opportunities for migrants and the less fortunate. Keith Sharman, Julie Morse Goff, and Roxanne Feitel are the producers.

Risk on the Road – 60 MINUTES investigates a scheme putting us at risk on our roadways - the rise of dangerous commercial trucking fleets called chameleon carriers. Known for flouting federal regulations and racking up safety violations, these often foreign-owned and operated networks are four times more likely to be involved in severe crashes. Bill Whitaker reports on one such scheme - Super Ego - a network of commercial trucking and leasing companies that is currently under federal investigation and named in a class action lawsuit. Ashley Velie is the producer. 

What Happened to the Great White Sharks? – The coastal waters around Cape Town, South Africa, had long been a global destination for seeing great white sharks. That was until about ten years ago, when these feared predators began washing up on beaches with their livers missing. Correspondent Anderson Cooper goes to South Africa to investigate a whodunnit that's fueled a bitter feud among scientists and conservationists who can't agree on who, or what, is the real culprit. Michael Gavshon is the producer.