>> nearly half of all syrian refugees are children. more than three million of them. how old are you guys? we visited refugee camps in jordan... six? ...when it was 111 degrees. there was no running water, no indoor plumbing, but there was a brand-new "sesame street," produced with characters that these young refugees can learn from, as so many kids in america have for years. ( ticking ) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> this musical prodigy has been performing around the world since he was 11 years old. and he's blind. which caught the attention of this neuroscientist, who wanted to see what would happen inside his brain. >> okay. shall we give it a shot? >> yep. >> the part that's used for sight when he listens to music. >> this is what changes in his brain. >> lights up. ( ticking ) >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm anderson cooper.

>> i'm sharyn alfonsi. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories, tonight, on "60 minutes." ( ticking ) for my mother my father my grandmother my brothers and sisters my friends for going back to school the bbq the lake the beach my place for my neighbors my community my people my country my home for him for her for them for you. ♪ (burke) at farmers, we know a thing or we've seen a thing or two. like how nice it is to save on your auto policy. but it's even nicer knowing that if this happens... ...or this happens... ...or this.... ...or this... ...or even this...

...we've seen and covered it. so, switch to farmers and you could save an average of three hundred ninety-five dollars. get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer can bring up questions that make you feel like shutting down. go here: findyourmbcvoice.com that make you feel like shutting down. this... watch... tells... time and takes phone calls. and communicates with satellites thousands of miles above the earth and tracks your distance underwater and tracks your activity and tells you which direction you're going and has an app that measures the electrical waves traveling through your heart otherwise known as an electrocardiogram. so just to reiterate... w. tells... time (among other things). capital one's top-rated app is right here.

so you can check your balance, deposit checks, pay bills or transfer money. when you don't need your bank, put it here. that's banking reimagined. what's in your wallet? that's why i've got the power of 1,2,3 medicines with trelegy. the only fda-approved, once-daily 3 in 1 copd treatment. ♪ with trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3, i'm breathing better. trelegy works 3 ways to open airways, keep them open, and reduce inflammation for 24 hours of better breathing. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. trelegy is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, think your copd medicine is doing enough?

maybe you should think again. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. we know times are hard and we're here for you. find support at trelegy.com. >> stahl: tonight, dr. jon lapook on assignment for "60 minutes." >> lapook: 20 years ago, scientists stunned the world when they announced they had decoded the genes that make up a human being. they hoped to use that genetic blueprint to advance something called gene therapy which locates and fixes the genes responsible for different diseases.

as we first reported last year, a clinical trial at the national institutes of health is doing exactly that, in an attempt to cure sickle cell anemia-- a devastating genetic disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people around the world every year. for 15 months, we followed the scientists, and patients, who are ushering in a genetic revolution. >> jennelle stephenson: i'm excited. >> ray stephenson: today is the big day. >> lapook: it's the day after christmas, 2017, and 27-year-old jennelle stephenson has come with her father and brother from florida to the national institutes of health, just outside washington, d.c. >> jennelle stephenson: good morning. >> dr. john tisdale: good morning. >> lapook: she's one of a small group of patients to receive an infusion containing altered d.n.a. >> nurse: this is what they look like. >> jennelle stephenson: merry christmas to me. >> brother: best christmas present ever. >> jennelle stephenson: yay. >> lapook: the clear liquid in the bag contains jennelle's stem cells, that have been

genetically modified. >> dr. tisdale: there are about 500 million in there. >> jennelle stephenson: oh, my goodness. >> lapook: the hope is the new d.n.a. in the cells will cure jennelle of sickle cell anemia-- a brutal disease that causes debilitating pain. at its worst, on a scale of zero to ten, how bad was your pain? >> jennelle stephenson: we can go beyond a ten. it's terrible, it's horrible. >> lapook: pain where? >> jennelle stephenson: everywhere. my back, my shoulders, elbows, arms, legs, even my cheekbones, just pain. >> lapook: can you actually describe it? >> jennelle stephenson: it's a very sharp, like, stabbing, almost feels like bone-crushing pain. feels like someone's kind of constricting your bones, and then releasing, constantly. >> lapook: pain from sickle cell can occur anywhere blood circulates. that's because red blood cells, normally donut-shaped, bend into an inflexible sickle shape, causing them to pile up inside blood vessels. the resulting traffic jam

prevents the normal delivery of oxygen throughout the body, leading to problems that include bone deterioration, strokes and organ failure. the gene that causes sickle cell anemia evolved in places like sub-saharan africa, because it protects people from malaria. there, millions have the disease, and it's estimated more than 50% of babies born with it die before the age of five. >> dr. glassberg: right on the bone there? >> lapook: in the united states, it affects 100,000 people-- mostly african americans. for jennelle, having the disease as a child often meant spending christmas in the hospital. as an adult, she struggled through pain to complete college, but keeping a job was tough because something as simple as walking up stairs could trigger "a pain crisis." do you have friends who've died from sickle cell? >> jennelle stephenson: i do. yes, younger than me. >> lapook: and you've known this your whole life, growing up? >> jennelle stephenson: right. >> lapook: that you could potentially die early? >> jennelle stephenson: right. yes.

>> lapook: did you think you would die early? >> jennelle stephenson: i did, actually. when i hit about 22, i was like, "you know, i'm-- for a sickle celler, i'm kind of middle-aged right now." >> lapook: what are some of the things that you've always wanted to do that you couldn't do? >> jennelle stephenson: honestly, everybody laughs at me for this-- i just want to run, to be honest. >> lapook: things that most people would take for granted. >> jennelle stephenson: just basic things. >> lapook: one of the most cruel parts of the disease, jennelle and other patients have told us, is being accused of faking pain to get narcotics, being labeled a "drug-seeker." during one trip to the emergency department, when she fell to the floor in pain, a doctor refused to help her. >> jennelle stephenson: and i'm looking up at her, and i'm in tears, and, i'm like, "i'm doing the best that i can." >> lapook: and you've got to be thinking... >> jennelle stephenson: i just, sometimes i don't understand, i don't get it. like-- sorry. i'm in so much pain, and you think i just want some morphine.

and it just makes me sad that some people in the medical community just don't get it. >> dr. francis collins: so this would be my lab. >> lapook: dr. francis collins is director of the national institutes of health, the largest biomedical research agency in the world. he oversees a nearly $40 billion budget that funds more than 400,000 researchers world-wide. >> clinton: dr. collins, please come up to the lectern. ( applause ) >> lapook: dr. collins was head of the human genome project at the n.i.h. in 2000 when he made a landmark announcement: after a decade of work, scientists had finally decoded the genes that make up a human being. >> dr. collins: today, we celebrate the revelation of the first draft of the human book of life. >> lapook: when did it all start for you? >> dr. collins: i got excited about genetics as a first-year medical student. a pediatric geneticist came to

teach us about how genetics was relevant to medicine. and he brought patients to class, and one of the first patients he brought was a young man with sickle cell disease who talked about the experience of sickle cell crises and how incredibly painful those are. and yet, it was all because of one single letter in the d.n.a. that is misplaced, a "t" that should have been an "a." and that was profound. you could have all of that happen because of one letter that was misspelled. >> lapook: the double helix of d.n.a. is made up of billions of pieces of genetic information. what dr. collins is saying is... out of all that, it's just one error in the d.n.a. code-- a "t" that should have been an "a"-- that causes sickle cell anemia. fix that error, and you cure the disease. but figuring out how to do that would take more than 20 years of research... >> ♪ do you remember when we used to sing ♪

>> lapook: ...and a little serendipity. ♪ ♪ dr. collins was playing in the n.i.h. rock band in 2016 when his bass player-- hematologist dr. john tisdale-- started riffing on an idea. >> dr. tisdale: we'd finished setting up and went for a pizza, before-- >> dr. collins: i remember that. >> dr. tisdale: --before the gig. and at this point, i pitched to francis that it was really time that we do something definitive for sickle cell disease. >> lapook: in the laboratory, dr. tisdale and his collaborators created a gene with the correct spelling. then, to get that gene into the patient, they used something with a frightening reputation: h.i.v., the virus that causes aids. it turns out, h.i.v. is especially good at transferring d.n.a. into cells. >> dr. tisdale: so this shows the process. >> lapook: here's how it works. the corrected gene, seen here in yellow, is inserted into the h.i.v. virus. then, bone marrow stem cells are taken from a patient with sickle

cell anemia. in the laboratory, those cells are combined with the virus carrying that new d.n.a. >> dr. tisdale: this virus will then find its way to one of those cells and drop off a copy or two of the correctly-spelled gene. and then, these cells will go back to the patient. >> lapook: if the process works, the stem cells with the correct d.n.a. will start producing healthy red blood cells. i can hear people, our viewers out there, thinking, "wait a second, how do you know you're not going to get aids from the h.i.v. virus?" >> dr. tisdale: the short answer is, we cut out the bits that cause infection in h.i.v. and we really replace that with the gene that's misspelled in sickle cell disease, so that it transfers that instead of the infectious part. >> lapook: the stakes here are enormous. >> dr. collins: yes. >> lapook: there's really very little safety net here, right? >> dr. collins: make no mistake, we're talking about very cutting-edge research, where the certainty about all the outcomes is not entirely there. we can look back at the history of gene therapy and see there have been some tragedies.

>> lapook: deaths? >> dr. collins: yes. >> lapook: in 1999, 18-year-old jesse gelsinger received altered d.n.a. to treat a different genetic disease. he died four days later from a massive immune response. and in another trial, two children developed cancer. jennelle stephenson understands this is a trial, with huge risks, and no guarantees. >> jennelle stephenson: this is it. >> lapook: when she arrived at the n.i.h. clinical center in december 2017, jennelle asked her brother, ray, for some help. >> jennelle stephenson: there goes ray, cutting my hair. oh, snip. >> lapook: she decided to cut off all her hair, rather than watch it fall out from the massive dose of chemotherapy needed to suppress her immune system so her body wouldn't reject the altered stem cells. >> jennelle stephenson: i don't know how to feel right now. i'm a little emotional.

but... i'm okay, it will grow back. >> lapook: a few days after the chemotherapy, jennelle received the infusion of genetically modified cells. >> dr. tisdale: is it going good now? >> nurse: yes. >> jennelle stephenson: it's just a waiting game. >> lapook: but the wait was a painful one. not only for jennelle, but also for her father, ray... >> ray stephenson: let me fix this heating pad a little bit. >> lapook: ...who did what little he could as the effects of the chemotherapy kicked in, stripping jennelle's throat and stomach of their protective layers. >> jennelle stephenson: oh, that hurts. >> lapook: she was unable to speak for a week, and lost 15 pounds. and, because having a severely weakened immune system means even a mild cold can turn deadly, jennelle had to stay in the hospital for nearly a month. after moving back to florida, she returned to the n.i.h. for periodic check-ups.

>> dr. tisdale: these are her red blood cells. >> lapook: it didn't take long for dr. tisdale to notice something was happening... this is jennelle before any treatment? >> dr. tisdale: right. all across her blood you can see these really abnormal shapes. this one in particular is shaped like a sickle. >> lapook: nine months later, this is what dr. tisdale saw: not a sickle cell in sight. was there ever a moment where you saw one of these normal- looking smears and thought, "is this the right patient?" >> dr. tisdale: oh, absolutely. when you're a scientist, you're skeptical all the time. so, first thing you do is look and make sure it's that patient, go grab another one, make sure it's the same. and we've done all that. and, indeed, her blood looks normal. >> teacher: move. switch your arms and move. >> lapook: remember, jennelle used to struggle just to walk up a flight of stairs... >> teacher: and you fall. >> lapook: ...and a fall like this would have landed her in the hospital. tcher: . ye. gou >> lapook: jennelle. you look amazing.

>> jennelle stephenson: thank you! >> lapook: i have to say, i was a little nervous when you were thrown and you went down on the mat. >> jennelle stephenson: it was nothing. it was nothing. my body just felt strong. >> lapook: tell me about the adjustment that you need to make, to go from the old you to the new you. >> jennelle stephenson: my body, it almost felt like it was, like, itching to do more. and i was like, "all right, well, let's go swimming today." "let's go to the gym today." i'm like, all right, my body loves this. i kind of like it because my, i guess, all my endorphins started pumping. >> lapook: the endorphin high, something you had never experienced. >> jennelle stephenson: never experienced before. yep. >> lapook: what was going through your head as you were watching jennelle being thrown down to the mat? >> ray stephenson: i was just saying, "thank you, lord. thank you for medical science. and thank you for giving her a new life." >> jennelle stephenson: new life, indeed. >> lynndrick holmes: i've never lived before. >> lapook: 18 other adults with sickle cell anemia have undergone the same gene therapy all responded well, except one who died from another cause.

dr. francis collins says it will take years to improve the treatment so it can be made more widely available. >> dr. collins: here's another dream. there are 7,000 genetic diseases for which we know the precise d.n.a. misspelling. couldn't this same strategy, this same set of principles work for lots of those, maybe someday all of them? >> lapook: you've been working on this for decades. you're at a moment which is significant. >> dr. collins: to lead the human genome project and to put that foundation in place. and now, to see that emerging not just as hoped-for advances, but real data showing cures for people... >> lapook: you just used the (yo wo at?ord. >> dr. collins: i believe that this looks like a cure. i've got to be careful. but from every angle that i know how to size this up, this looks like a cure.

( ticking ) this is ava. these are ava's shoulders. they square off. and bear it all. but now ava's shoulders are stronger than ever. this is what medicare from blue cross blue shield does for ava. and with plans that fit your life and budget, you can count on us when it matters most. this is medicare from blue cross blue shield. this is the benefit of blue.

this is medicare from blue cross blue shield. women with metastatic we breast cancerers. standing in the struggle. hustling through the hurt. asking for science not sorrys. our time for more time - has come. living longer is possible and proven in women taking kisqali plus fulvestrant or a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor. kisqali is the only treatment in its class with proven overall survival results in 2 clinical trials. helping women live longer with hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer. kisqali was also significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant alone. kisqali can cause lung problems or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it can cause serious liver problems and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, coug chest pain,

a change in your heartbeat, dizziness... yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills, or other symptoms of an infection, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. avoid grapefruit during treatment. kisqali is not approved for use with tamoxifen. it's our time. to continue to shine because we are the thrivers. ask your doctor about kisqali, the only treatment in its class proven to help women live longer in 2 clinical trials.

>> stahl: there are more people living as refugees around the world today than at any time since the second world war. and with conflicts dragging on for years, being a refugee now often means not going home for decades. that's literally a life-time, for millions of young children. as we first reported last fall, the refugee crisis has sparked a partnership between two of the country's leading non-profit institutions: sesame workshop, creator of sesame street, and the international rescue committee-- the i.r.c.-- a refugee assistance organization originally founded by albert

einstein. for 50 years, "sesame street" has been teaching young children that one plus one equals two; but by teaming up with the i.r.c. to help the youngest refugees, it's hoping that one plus one can now add up to far more. this is the za'atari refugee camp in jordan. it houses 77,000 syrian refugees. this is azraq camp. it houses another 35,000. it's hard to fathom that these tens of thousands are just a fraction of the more than six million syrians now living as refugees-- most of them for the last four to eight years. and nearly half of all of them are children. so this is the big waterhole. the first thing we noticed when we arrived at azraq camp with

our guide, laila hussein of the i.r.c., was the kids. little kids carrying the water. >> laila hussein: yeah. >> stahl: there's no running water here, no indoor plumbing. toilets are outside and shared by six families. the day we visited it was 111 degrees. ask these young fellows if they come to get water every day. >> hussein: they carry the water. >> stahl: you carry? how old are you guys? how old? >> stahl: six. eight! meeting the needs of kids like this... six. ...is not what the humanitarian aid system was set up for. >> david miliband: the humanitarian sector has prided itself on keeping people alive. >> stahl: david miliband is head of the international rescue committee. traditionally, i guess that refugees flee war, go home when the war ends. >> miliband: yeah, the theory is

that you just keep people alive until they can go home. but we know now that the average length of displacement for a refugee is close to 20 years-- >> stahl: 20 years? >> miliband: close to 20 years. and that's why it's a total tragedy that less than 2% of all humanitarian aid funding goes on education, even though half of the world's refugees are kids. >> stahl: and only a tiny sliver of that 2% goes to educating young children. >> miliband: and that's a problem, because we know that it's the earliest years that count the most. ♪ ♪ >> stahl: no one knows the importance of those earliest >>e street." >> stahl: it's been using television to educate kids in the u.s., including tackling tough subjects like racism and death, for five decades. and it's done local versions in

other countries. in 2016, sesame workshop and the i.r.c. had been strategizing about how they could collaborate to help refugee children, when a new competition was announced. >> the macarthur foundation is launching a new competition. >> stahl: the prize: a stunning $100 million. >> miliband: the macarthur foundation offered $100 million to any organization who was ready to, "solve a big global problem." >> stahl: a global problem that was intractable. >> miliband: we defined the global problem we wanted to tackle was trauma, toxic stress among refugee children in the middle east. we can reach literally millions of children. >> stahl: in the final pitch to the competition's judges, miliband and his sesame workshop counterpart sherrie westin, presented a two-pronged plan: sesame workshop would create a new show for the middle east. >> sherrie westin: we will

introduce new local muppets. >> stahl: and the i.r.c. would dramatically expand its services to young refugee kids directly, including where they're living. and they gave you $100 million. >> miliband: yeah, $100 million is not as much as it sounds. because it's-- >> stahl: it isn't? >> miliband: it's over-- >> stahl: it sounds huge. >> miliband: it's over-- ( laughs ) five years. and we're delivering in-person services to over a million kids and educational content via tv to nearly eight million kids. so it's a big enterprise. >> stahl: production of the new television show, "ahlan simsim," meaning "welcome sesame," is well underway in jordan. it stars a spunky purple girl muppet named basma, a boy muppet, jad, who has just moved into the neighborhood, and their pal and comedic sidekick, a mischievous baby goat. jad isn't labeled a refugee on the show, but there are hints. he's voiced by a syrian

puppeteer, and in this episode, where the other characters are showing each other their 9favorite childhood toys, jad can't. >> jad ( translated ): my toy is not with me. i left it behind in my old home when i came here. >> scott cameron: this was one of the more challenging episodes to craft. >> stahl: scott cameron, a longtime sesame producer who is running this new show, explained that the primary focus is not on letters and numbers, but on emotions like fear, anger, loneliness, and determination. this episode deals with jad's sadness about his lost toy drum, but also basma's feelings of caring for her friend. >> cameron: we want every episode to identify an emotion, but then give really concrete actions so that children can

learn what to do. >> stahl: so what does she do? >> cameron: so, she decides she's going to make a drum to replace the drum that jad no longer has-- >> stahl: it's so sweet. the show will air in 20 countries in the middle east, north africa, and the gulf starting in february. and if you're wondering how refugees will see it, we were surprised to see that satellite dishes are prevalent in the camps, where the i.r.c. has been ramping up its part of the plan: direct services to young refugee children, as we saw in this early childhood center the i.r.c. runs in the azraq camp, where pre-school age kids can come to play and learn. video clips and storybooks featuring basma and jad will soon be part of lessons here. given these children's age, laila hussein told us it's

likely none of them has ever been outside this camp. >> hussein: when i meet children in the camp, i notice that they have very limited imagination. >> stahl: and very limited information. >> hussein: i met children. they don't know he egg coming from a chicken. >> stahl: really? >> hussein: they don't know that the fish live in the sea. it's our responsibility to bring the world inside the camp. we can't, like, take them out. but we can bring the world inside. >> stahl: and bring the world inside their makeshift homes. the i.r.c. runs a home visit program that sends trained volunteers-- refugees themselves like this woman-- to visit 3,000 refugee families once a week, each time with an age- appropriat educational activity. here a home-made picture book for 20-month old belal. "bisse," he says. cat.

what does the cat say? >> meow. >> stahl: the idea is to teach the child-- and more importantly, encourage essential one-on-one interactions with the parent. belal is one of nine children in this family that was driven from their home in syria by intense shelling and now live, eat, and sleep in two adjoining metal structures-- brutal in the 110+ degree heat. so how many years have you been in this camp? >> hamsni. five. hamsni. >> stahl: five years? the older boys told us they still remember life back in syria. what do you remember? >> ( translated ): i remember our home. i also remember my friends, the school i attended, my granddad's house. >> stahl: but the younger kids only know this life. their mom told us the home visits have been a huge help as

she tries to parent under these conditions. >> ( translated ): before, i didn't give belal enough praise, because i was always busy with housework, cooking. >> stahl: you pay more attention to the children after these visits? >> ( translated ): for sure. even the children with one another, they developed a closer bond. like if one hands the other a glass of water, the other would go "thank you." >> ( translated ): she now forgets to give me attention. >> stahl: ( laughs ) >> ( translated ): not at all. he's getting all the attention. >> stahl: how would you describe the pressures that these parents are under? >> miliband: the pressures that these people face are not just the material deprivation. >> stahl: lost everything. >> miliband: but the greatest danger they face is hopelessness. these are people who want something if not for themselves anymore, then at least for their children. >> stahl: some of the most vulnerable refugee children are those whose families live outside the refugee camps, in

what are called informal tented settlements-- basically tents on the side of the road. tens of thousands of families live thi bringing its home visit program to them as well. we watched as this volunteer worked with year-and-a-half-old mohamad and his dad, a day laborer on a nearby farm, on the concepts of in and out. mohamad's mother didn't want to be filmed, but his grandmother was eager to speak with us. >> ahlan wassahlan. welcome. >> stahl: their smiles and welcome were warm, as was their pride in showing us the home they left behind in syria. but the pain of living this way for the last five years was never far from the surface. >> ( translated ): sometimes i am able to hold myself together, but sometimes i can't. i sometimes wish i was in the desert with no one around me to

scream out all the negative energy inside of me. >> stahl: their despair was palpable, which is why one goal of these visits is to help parents keep from passing it on to their young children. i see you with your sons. i can tell that you don't want them to feel any of your unhappiness. >> ( translated ): you're absolutely right. even sometimes when i am troubled, and i see them, i smile for them. i want them always to feel y,ss >>! >> stahl: like the homemade drum basma gives jad to replace the one he left behind, the hope is that the combination of this show, and the array of services along with it, will give these kids a fighting start. studies to measure the impact are already part of the plan, so

if it works... you're gonna have this model for refugees around the world. >> miliband: there's no reason not to take this to refugee communities from myanmar who are in bangladesh, from south sudan who are in uganda. because this is a model that should work for every child who's forced to endure the trauma of being a refugee. >> stahl: you know, when people see the footage that we shot, they're not gonna see how hot it was. and they're gonna see children well-dressed, obviously fed. >> miliband: you're not going to be able to see the moments of hopelessness. but i hope that by seeing the smiles, you'll see the potential. and you'll come away thinking, "what a waste not to give these kids every chance and to give more kids the chance of what these kids are getting." >> stahl: basma and jad made their debut in february, and shows are being broadcast in 20 countries. with home visits suspended due to covid-19, the i.r.c. is

sending games and learning activities to parents virtually, and sesame has broadcast two specials with basma and jad to address kids' needs in the crisis. ( ticking ) >> welcome to the cbs sports hq update presented by progressive insurance. andrew catalon here in minnesota where michael thompson won the p.g.a. tour for the first time in 7 years. he's the victor at the 3m open after a final round of 67, his second career p.g.a. tour victory. for highlights, visit cbs.com this is andrew catalon reporting. [ cellphone chimes ] um, so, we're talking 24/7 protection. as it -- [ cellphone chimes ] [ clears throat ] mara, hello. [ cellphone clicking ] yeah?

we can see you on your phone. oh, my bad. you can continue. [ clicking continues ] [ cellphone chimes ] i think she's still on the phone. and a high risk for fracture, osteoporosis now might not be tt ti ask yrse, are my bones strong? life is full of make or break moments. that's why it's so important to help reduce your risk of fracture with prolia®. only prolia® is proven to help strengthen and protect bones from fracture with 1 shot every 6 months. do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. serious allergic reactions like low blood pressure, trouble breathing, throat tightness, face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened. tell your doctor about dental problems, as severe jaw bone problems may happen. or new or unusual pain in your hip, groin, or thigh, as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. speak to your doctor before stopping, skipping or delaying prolia®, as spine and other bone fractures have occurred.

prolia® can cause serious side effects, like low blood calcium, serious infections, which could need hospitalization, skin problems, and severe bone, joint, or muscle pain. are you ready? ask your doctor about prolia® fda approved for 10 years. hey! lily from at&t here. with some helpful tips. tip #1: you can currently get the amazing iphone 11 for half-off on at&t, america's fastest network for iphones. second tip: you can put googly eyes on your stuff to keep yourself company. uh for example, that's heraldo. he's my best friend. oh, sorry nancy, i forgot you were there. get the amazing iphone 11 for half-off on at&t, america's fastest network for iphones. we do things differently and aother money managers, don't understand why. because our way works great for us! but not for your clients. that's why we're a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. so, what do you provide? cookie cutter portfolios?

nope. we tailor portfolios to our client's needs. but you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right? we don't have those. so, what's in it for you? our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. at fisher investments we're clearly different. and geico loves helping riders get to where they're going, so to help even more, geico is giving new and current customers a fifteen percent credit on their motorcycle policies with the geico giveback. and because we're committed for the long haul, the credit lasts your full policy term. the geico giveback. helping riders focus on the road ahead.

( ticking ) someso young doesomethften, so amazing you can't help but wonder, "how do what happened t time we heard matthew whitaker play piano. matthew is a jazz pianist who is blind, and since the age of 11,

he's been performing around the world. he's been called a prodigy, and as we noted when we first aired this story in february, his talent is so extraordinary, he's also caught the attention of scientists who are now studying his brain and trying to understand his vision of music. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ matthew whitaker doesn't just play music, he plays with it. twisting melodies, crafting complex harmonies and improvising at lightning speed. ♪ ♪ it's acoustic acrobatics performed over 88 keys and it is not for the fain ♪ ♪ matthew made his first appearance at the new orleans

jazz festival. we watched backstage with his dad. the sheer complexity and spontaneity of his sets-- like this "look ma, no hands!" moment-- make the most seasoned musicians sweat, and jazz fans go wild. ♪ ♪ he plays with his shoes off so he can feel the pedals, and his head turned so he can feel the crowd. it's new orleans jazz fest. this is the tiffany of jazz festivals. was this a dream? >> matthew whitaker: it is amazing to be here. like, this is where jazz started. >> alfonsi: do you get nervous before a big show like this? >> matthew whitaker: honestly, i was a tiny bit nervous. but, you know, once i started >> jazz st ijambalaya for >> alf: we notiad ou a l omusi

way through the thick roux of humidity, suffocating crowds, and the 14 stages of music that, often boil over into the fairgrounds. can you hear all the different stages? are you like, is this like overwhelming? we're right behind the tuba. but as we walked around, we noticed matthew was able to cut through the sensory assault and identify songs in seconds. >> matthew whitaker: he's playing "just closer." yeah. "just a closer walk with thee." >> alfonsi: you got that song just that quickly? >> matthew whitaker: yeah. >> alfonsi: i heard like three notes and you already know what song it is? lord! matthew grew up in hackensack, new jersey. >> moses whitaker: he is just happy all the time. >> alfonsi: his parents, moses and may whitaker say matthew had an ear for music even before he could even talk. tell me about-- the first time >> moses whitaker: he was playing "twinkle, twinkle, little star." but he was playing it with both hands. matt was playing the chords and the melody of the song at the same-- >> alfonsi: had he had a lesson at this point?

>> moses whitaker: he hadn't had a lesson or anything. and he was three years old. so my question was, "okay, who showed him how to do that? somebody had to show matthew how to-- how to play this song." and nobody showed him. >> alfonsi: matthew whitaker was born at 24 weeks. he weighed one pound 11 ounces. his parents were told he had less than a 50% chance of survival. one of the many complications he faced was retinopathy of prematurity, a disease which can lead to blindness. >> may whitaker: i think at the time i-- i didn't think he was going to make it. so it was, you know, just-- just very scary. >> alfonsi: may and moses whitaker watched helplessly as matthew braved 11 surgeries to try and save his sight. after two anxious years, they decided they didn't want matthew to endure anymore. even if it meant he'd be permanently blind. >> moses whitaker: we just felt like he was going through too much. we were going through too much. because the doctors weren't seeing it was getting any better. we just said, "you know what? that's enough. we'll just deal with it as it

is." >> alfonsi: they told you he might not even speak? >> moses whitaker: exactly. they said that he might not crawl. and he might not ever walk. because he needed those things to see. you know, most kids learn to crawl-- they learn to walk because they want to try to get to something. well, matthew couldn't see to get to anything. so a lot of his toys and stuff we had to have sounds. so that he would want to crawl-- want to reach those things. >> alfonsi: matthew did start crawling towards music. sometimes sliding up to the speaker to feel the music. no one in his family was a musician, but his grandfather bought him his first keyboard when he was three-years old. how complicated were the songs he was playing early on? >> moses whitaker: they were nursery rhymes more so than anything. so they weren't that complicated. but what he was doing was complicated. because most kids don't play with both hands. and they don't play chords and the harmonies and all of that. and matt was doing that. >> alfonsi: so you realized he has a gift? >> moses whitaker: yes. >> alfonsi: let's get him a

teacher. >> moses whitaker: yes, which was the difficult part. >> alfonsi: why was that the difficult part? >> moses whitaker: because at the time, we got a lot of answers where people were saying he's too young. he was three-years-old at the time. or, "i don't know how to teach a blind child." >> alfonsi: dalia sakas agreed to meet matthew. sakas is the director of music studies at the filomen m. d'agostino greenberg music school in new york city-- a school for the visually impaired. >> moses whitaker: so we brought him over. and dalia played something on the piano, and matt repeated it. then she played something else and matt repeated it. she said "bring him in. we'll make the exception." ♪ everybody sing amen everybody sing amen ♪ >> alfonsi: dalia has been teaching matthew ever since. she is a classically trained concert pianist. >> dalia sakas: i was performing

a couple of recitals and the dvorak piano quintet is a piece actually for a piano and string quartet. so there's five of us. so matt and his mom came to hear, you know, the night i played. he comes in saturday morning. i walk into the studio and he's playing the opening of the dvorak quintet. you know, and then the cello comes in and he knew that whole thing. and i thought, "oh, very nice." >> alfonsi: dvorak's piano quintet is a challenging piece for five musicians. matthew was playing his version of all five parts on his piano. can he listen to a piece of music for the first time and then play it? does he have that ability? >> sakas: yeah. >> alfonsi: just hearing it once? >> sakas: yeah. he can pretty much get it. >> alfonsi: that's insane >> sakas: yeah, it is insane. >> alfonsi: yeah. >> sakas: yeah. ( laughs ) ♪ ♪ >> alfonsi: it could be exhausting? >> sakas: yeah, well it was scary more than exhausting. >> alfonsi: why scary?

>> sakas: because you didn't want to blow it. because you have someone of this talent, of this creativity, this enthusiasm. you don't want to squelch that. you don't want to mess up. he's obviously, you know, got something to offer to the world, and so you want to make that possible. ♪ ♪ >> alfonsi: she did. by the time he was 11, matthew was performing around the world. his first paying gig was in capri, italy, where he cut his chops with seasoned jazz musicians. ♪ ♪ since then, he's played in more than 200 clubs and concert halls around the world. that caught the attention of doctor charles limb. limb, a musician himself, is a surgeon and neuroscienst uses m.r.i. brain scans to better understand how exceptionally creative people do what they do.

what's interesting about a kid like matthew? why do you want to look at his brain? >> charles limb: i think anytime somebody watches matthew play piano the first thing that you think is, "how does he do that?" except rather than just wondering i'm actually trying to answer the question. >> alfonsi: specifically, doctor limb wants to know why the brains of certain artists seem better wired to give rise to new ideas. in matthews case, improvising. but when doctor limb approached the whitakers, they were dubious. >> may whitaker: because somebody comes to you and says, "can we put your son in this scan?" and-- right away you're thinking, you know, lab rabbit, or you know, what are they trying to do with my child? >> alfonsi: once doctor limb also explained other artists had participated, the whitaker's ago t m scan mew he brought matthew to this m.r.i. facility at the university of california, san francisco, and put matthew in the scanner with a mini keyboard on his lap. >> limb: okay, shall we give it

a shot? >> matthew whitaker: yup! >> alfonsi: matthew played a melody, with his feet keeping time, while doctor limb and his team recorded his brain's activity levels with the m.r.i. scanner. >> limb: what you're seeing on this computer screen is some brain data that we obtained from matthew. >> alfonsi: then doctor limb put matthew through a different series of auditory tests. he showed us the results. >> limb: so we started out not by looking at music, but by looking at somebody like this who-- would give a lecture that most people would consider to be a little bit boring. >> in an effort to alleviate the effect of the-- anyone? anyone? >> limb: this is what happened when he was listening to that. and then, interestingly, because he is blind we looked at his visual cortex. and we didn't see any significant activity there at all-- >> alfonsi: so nothing's happening. ch the soundtrack for him. and we put on a band that he knows quite well, snarky puppy. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ this is what changes in his

brain. >> alfonsi: jeez. lights up. look closely. this is his visual cortex listening to the boring lecture, and this is it listening to music. >> limb: pretty remarkable. his entire brain is stimulated by music. his visual cortex is activated throughout. it seems like his brain is taking that part of the tissue that's not being stimulated by sight and using it, or maybe helping him, to perceive music with it. >> alfonsi: so he's using that visual part of his brain to kind of see music as it were? >> limb: exactly, yeah. and so, it's sort of borrowing that part of the brain and rewiring it to help him hear music. >> alfonsi: when they told you that the visual cortex of your brain-- >> matthew whitaker: lit up! like for music. like, that was amazing. i didn't even know that that was happening. >> alfonsi: what do you think it means? >> matthew whitaker: i love music. ( laughs ) >> alfonsi: his love of music has never been in doubt, but mattaclia sa jt flash in the pan prodigy. >> matthew whitaker: ah, i just

switched the-- i keep switching those-- >> sakas: i know, i know, i know. keep going, you'll get it. you'll get it. >> alfonsi: she wanted him to be a literate musician. >> sakas: where is the second beat? >> alfonsi: so she decided he needed to learn to read braille music. to do that, you have to feel, read and remember dots that represent the music, first for the right hand, and then for the left hand. it's a painstakingly slow process. >> matthew whitaker: how far do you want to go to? >> sakas: i don't know. let's keep just going, okay? >> alfonsi: and matthew does not like to slow down. stay still. stay still. when we interviewed him, he was exceedingly polite and exceedingly bored. >> matthew whitaker: ( yawns ) my gosh! i'm so sorry >> alfonsi: you're fine! matthew just wants to play. >> matthew whitaker: may i go to the piano? >> alfonsi: so he did. ( "africa" by toto ) ♪ ♪ at the piano, he is pure joy. jumping from the classics... ♪ ♪ ...to beyonceé. ( "crazy in love" by beyonceé ) ♪ ♪

but what's so special is how he takes those songs, any song-- oh, you are speaking to my soul now! ( "naughty girl" by beyonceé ) ♪ ♪ improvising it on the spot to make it his own. ♪ ♪ matthew's latest album is called "now hear this." his vision of music that a critic noted sounds like matthew is playing with six hands. ♪ ♪ ( cheers and applause ) >> matthew whitaker: thank you so much! ( ticking ) >> friends at "60 minutes" pay tribute to producer katie texter, who passed away before finishing this story, at 60minutesovertime.com. sponsored by pfizer.

( ticking ) because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz. the first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. needinsome but for you, there's a pill that may provide symptom relief. ask your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. xeljanz. an "unjection™".

come on in, we're open. ♪ simplene. we adapt and we change. you know, you just figure it out. we've just been finding a way to keep on pushing. ♪ capital one's top-rated app is right here. so you can check your balance, deposit checks, pay bills or transfer money. when you don't need your bank, put it here. that's banking reimagined. what's in your wallet? and moments you'll never forget to breathtaking views that's banking reimagined. because southwest has fares one-way as low as $49. and you'll experience our enhanced cleaning procedures. big heart and low fares ... book now at southwest.com. [clap, clap, ding]

>> stahl: i'm lesley stahl.

>> stahl: i'm lesley stahl. we'll be back next week, with another edition of "60 minutes."

( ticking ) captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org to release it like it's supposed to. once-weekly trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. it's not insulin. it starts acting from the first dose. and it lowers risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in people with known heart disease or multiple risk factors. trulicity isn't for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take trulicity if you're allergic to it, you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have an allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, changes iny cludpareatis taliith lfylurear ugarisk. side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, belly pain, and decreased appetite, which lead to dehydration and may worsen kidney problems. we're committed to helping ensure trulicity is

available and affordable. learn more at trulicity.com.

captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org -it's in there, it's in there. -thumbs-up. ...and won their first team challenge. -whoo, baby. -then, in the individual challenge, murph... murph: mission accomplished. ...picked apart the competition... keoghan: you will have a huge advantage in the next individual challenge. ...while melissa and young stalled. -i want to cry, phil! -myles: let's go, let's go! keoghan: treading into overtime... -let's go! -...melissa hit a speed bump... hold your head up high. we respect you. ...and punched out of the individual competition. i don't have any regrets, but it sucks. -keoghan: tonight... -melissa: get in, get in! -(whoops) yes, baby. -go, go, go! ...both teams battle it out on the farm. -no, no, no. -but will they get their wires crossed? -is it at the right height? -and murph's advantage... murph: do i want to set people up for success or set them up for failure?