geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the "newshour" tonight, in an apparent israeli attack, hundreds of hezbollah pagers explode across lebanon, killing at least eight and injuring

thousands. geoff: with seven weeks until election day, kamala harris and donald trump hit the campaign trail in critical swing states . amna: and we explore the deepest depths and efforts to mine valuable metals from the ocean floor. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- ♪ >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the news hour, including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. >> the kettering foundation, working to advance inclusive democracies. earn more -- learn more. >> everyone is trying to connect on a personal level. >> we look out for one another.

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this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the newshour. it was an unprecedented and shocking attack. all across lebanon today, pagers used by members of the militant group hezbollah exploded. lebanon's health ministry says 2700 people were injured, and 9 were killed, including a young girl. hezbollah blamed israel for the attack. israel has not made any public statement. geoff: this comes as tensions between israel and lebanon have been near boiling for nearly a year, since just after the october 7 hamas terror attacks on israel. days later, hezbollah stepped up fire into northern israel. the two sides have had near daily exchanges of artillery and rocket fire since forcing thousands to flee. nick schifrin is here with more. walk us through your reporting

and tell us more about what happened. nick: experts describe this attack as audacious, never seen before anywhere in an almost unbelievable scale and you can really see that even from the videos that immediately come out. lebanese hezbollah members in markets going about their days and all of a sudden, the pagers they are wearing on their belts, you see that in the market, or in their pockets or bags, exploded. that led. as you said, hundreds of them serious so the expectation tonight is the total death toll and the total wounded total will increase. so what happened? officially, we don't know. hezbollah blamed israel. i asked an israeli official about that and the only response i got was an emojis of shrugged shoulders so that is what israel is saying, nothing. the experts i speak to believe israel conducted this attack and they believe the most likely scenario is that the pagers were altered to include small explosives and that means the

supply chain of the pagers were compromised by some entity that wanted to do damage to hezbollah. experts tell us a few months ago, hezbollah switched over from cell phones to pagers, thinking that there would be less surveillance by israel. obviously, that backfired. geoff: how much of a blow is this to hezbollah? nick: it is a big blow. 2700 people is a big blow. it was actually aimed at the mid-level members of hezbollah. it also means it affected thousands of families in southern beirut and southern lebanon. that will put a lot more pressure on hezbollah to respond . it is externally embarrassing in the words of one expert, a slap in the face to the leaders, demoralizing to supporters, raises real questions about the group's security and depending on where these pagers are from, iranian security as well. israel recently struck from hezbollah's number three in southern beirut, and so again,

that just leads to the idea, the feeling among hezbollah right now that israel can get anyone, anywhere. geoff: tensions are seemly high and this follows political announcements by the israeli government. put that into context for us. nick: at 5:00 in the morning, israel time, israel's security cabinet released a statement that added a goal to their official wargames in gaza. "returning the residents of the war securely to their homes in reference to the 60,000 northern israelis who have been internally displaced since the october 7 hamas attack and october 8. that came a few hours after israel's defense minister declared that u.s. led diplomatic efforts to try and de-escalate between israel and hezbollah were dead. he said the only way left to return the residence to the north, to their homes, is via military action. that was a readout of his meeting with u.s. diplomats that

he was meeting yesterday to try and de-escalate tension. a special advisor to the president and a senior advisor, senior administration official, told us his message was this. he cautioned them that the u.s. does not believe a broader conflict in lebanon achieves the goal of returning residents to their home in the north and risk is a much broader and protracted regional conflict. he made this clear to israeli officials in the u.s. remains committed to a diplomatic solution. that was yesterday in those meetings. today, the fear of escalation is very high. geoff: based on your reporting, where might all of this lead? nick: some of the experts said they believe israel is trying to message, that israel is serious about northern israel, the residents who are no longer in their homes. hezbollah is overreaching, and that this was a message to accept the diplomatic terms that

he has been trying to get them to accept which is essentially moving haswell a fighters about six miles away from the lebanon/israel border behind the litani river. their hope in this analysis is that hezbollah doesn't want war, cannot afford it politically in lebanon, and also iran doesn't want them to go to war with israel because hezbollah is iran's best deterrence. other experts i speak to say no way. that this is so embarrassing to hezbollah, it will cause an escalation. hezbollah has to respond in a violent way, in a different way than it has in the past and that could lead to israel doing the same and a cycle of escalation, the very cycle the u.s. is trying to avoid. geoff: thank you so much for walking us through all of this. we appreciate it. nick: thank you. ♪ geoff: now we turn to the

presidential campaign with the election just seven weeks away. vice president kamala harris sat down for a high-profile interview in pennsylvania today while former president donald trump is gearing up for a town hall later tonight, just days after an alleged attempted assasination effort was stopped by secret service. laura barron-lopez has more. laura: the nation's first black vice president fielding questions from the national association of black journalists in philadelphia. harris addressed her opponents efforts to win over more black men this cycle. vp. harris: i am working to earn the vote, not assuming i'm going to have it because i am black but because the policies and the perspectives i have understands what we must do to recognize the needs of all communities. laura: it comes six weeks after the organization hosted former president trump who sparred with the journalists and questioned harris's racial identity. mr. trump: now, she wants to be

known as black. is she indian or is she black? laura: eugene daniels of politico asked the vice president about springfield, ohio, which has seen a spike in violent threats after trump spread lies about immigrants eating pets there. vp. harris: when you have that kind of microphone in front of you, you really ought to understand at a very deep level how much your words have meaning and i think most people in our country, regardless of their race, are starting to see through this nonsense. and to say, you know what, let's turn the page on this. this is exhausting and it is harmful. laura: she also condemned the apparent assassination attempt that unfolded on sunday when secret service spotted a gunman in the treeline of trump's own golf course. harris said she spoke with the former president by phone earlier this afternoon. vp. harris: i checked on him to see if he was ok.

i told him what i have said publicly. there is no place for political violence in our country. we can and should have healthy debates and discussion and disagreements, but not resort to violence to resolve those issues. laura: if federal investigation into the incident is still in its early stages. in florida, governor ron desantis announced a state-level criminal probe and said prosecutors will pursue attempted murder charges against the suspect. as for the trump camp -- >> don't lecture donald trump about softening his rhetoric after two people tried to kill him. laura: jd vance blamed democrats again today while campaigning in michigan. sen. vance: we have to remember donald trump is getting shot at. they need to cut that out or they are going to get somebody hurt. laura: after the second apparent assassination attempt, vance railed against unknown democrats

for calling trump a fascist despite trump himself repeatedly calling harris one. to guard against another attempt to overturn the election results, some political figures are coming together to maintain a peaceful transfer of power. a group of bipartisan former governors put out a letter today urging their successors to certify the election results in their states and reject any delays. stating, while there is much to debate on the campaign trail, we expect all candidates, and the american people will agree, that this time-honored process during our postelection period is not open for debate. on the campaign trail, the parties are celebrating national voter registration day. >> that is the place where you go to get voter registration day. laura: with tim walz out in georgia. trump is expected back on the trail with a town hall in flint, michigan later tonight come out for the first time since what appears to be the second attempt on his life.

i am laura perrone au pair's. -- lopez. geoff: and we have one additional note involving the u.s. presidential campaign -- microsoft is warning of a shift in russian election influence efforts towards the harris-walz campaign, using fake and misleading videos. the latest report from the microsoft threat analysis center says it "reflects a strategic move by russian actors aimed at exploiting any perceived vulnerabilities in the new candidates." microsoft adds that we should expect more such "staged videos and ai-enhanced propoganda" -- heading into the november election. ♪ amna: the days other headlines start in central europe where major cities are bracing for the worst flooding in years to head downstream. in budapest, soldiers filled sandbags to keep the river from overflowing its banks. floodwaters have claimed around

20 lives so far across central europe and submerged entire towns. thousands have been displaced. in poland, the government declared a state of natural disaster in the south following heavy rains. in areas where floodwaters have receded as seen here in the czech republic, residents are left to pick up the pieces. >> the damage will be huge. all is destroyed downstairs. the floors are gone. we are like newlyweds resettling again but it is not very amusing. amna: in northern portugal, it is a very different seen as thousands of firefighters battle some 100 wildfires that have killed at least six people. more than 50 others have been injured and with no rain in the forecast, national authorities say a fire alert will stay in place until thursday. the senate rejected a motion today on whether to consider legislation that would protect in vitro fertilization or ivf.

the final tally was 51-44. 60 votes were needed in favor to open debate on the measure. that was the second time such a bill came to the floor this year and it was widely expected to fail but it was a chance for democrats to put republican lawmakers on the record and draw a contrast between kamala harris and donald trump on the issue. chuck schumer spoke before the vote. >> expanding insurance coverage for ivf is not a partisan issue. a survey from pew research showed seven in 10 americans say access to ivf is a good thing. just 8% oppose it. 8%. amna: ivf protections came to national prominence earlier this year when the alabama supreme court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. several clinics canceled the treatments. the republican-led legislature then enacted a law to provide legal protections for those providing ivf services.

new details are emerging about the company behind the titan submersible that imploded last year on its way to the titanic wreckage site. former ocean gate operations director david lockridge told a coast guard hearing today that the companies co-founder, stockton rush, who died in the accident, put profits over safety. >> bad engineering decisions. i would say those are the two main things. there was a big push to get this done and a lot of steps along the way were missed. amna: investigators recently released this photo showing remains of the titan lodged in the seafloor. the vessel imploded in june of last year, killing all five people on board and raising questions about the future of private undersea expiration. instagram is rolling out a new type of account for teenagers. new users under the age of 18 will be placed into private accounts automatically. this means they will only

receive messages from those they follow or who are connected to. so-called sensitive content like people promoting cosmetic procedures will be limited and teens will be notified if they have been using the app for more than one hour. the new policy comes as meta-faces dozens of lawsuits that say it's social media platforms can be addictive and hurt children's mental health. wall street ended with little changed today as investors wait for tomorrow's decision by the federal reserve on interest rates. the dow jones industrial average slipped 15 points, falling back just a bit from yesterday's record high. the nasdaq added 35 points on the day. the s&p 500 barely barged, adding just one single point. still to come on the news hour, hip-hop mogul sean "diddy" combs with racketeering, violent -- on charges. they continue spreading lies

about haitian migrants. world-renowned scientist and physician francis collins discusses his new book on science and faith. >> this is the pbs news hour from the david and rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: federal authorities are charging music mogul sean "diddy" combs with racketeering, violent abuse, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution, in a sweeping federal indictment. the details of that indictment were revealed this morning after combs, who was the subject of a sex trafficking investigation and a pair of federal raids, was arrested in new york city last night. damian williams, the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, in a press conference today, said combs used his extensive music and business empire as a criminal outfit.

>> and the indictment alleges that he maintained control over the victims in several ways, including by giving them drugs, by giving and threatening to take away financial support or housing, by promising them career opportunities by monitoring their whereabouts, and even by dictating their physical appearance. because of all of this, the indictment alleges that the victims did not believe they could refuse combs without risking their security or facing more abuse. geoff: combs pleaded not guilty in court today and has denied prior allegations. a federal judge ordered he be held without bail. for more on the charges, i'm joined by sidney madden, reporter for npr music. according to this indictment, authorities allege he turned his business empire into a criminal enterprise in which he and his associates engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, and other crimes. walk us through what he stands accused of. sidney: absolutely he is.

-- absolutely. he is being indicted on three counts. transporting commercial sex workers across state lines. geoff: critical to this indictment are the allegations of use of force and coercion, using guns, in some cases plying people with drugs. help us understand that dynamic as laid out in this indictment. sidney: absolutely. there are a few key factors to this indictment, to this suit that makes it stand far and beyond alone from the others he is facing. the first is that all the other cases that he has been answering to in the last year, almost a year now, have been several lawsuits and this is the first criminal proceeding, the criminal case, and the second is that it is a rico case. it really shows how this was a

whole orchestrated effort according to the allegations in the indictment. he's really being accused of riling everyone around him, corralling them, and directing them to do all of his bidding, to do things like procure drugs, procure commercial sex workers, taking sex workers over state lines, paying off certain people, setting upsets -- setting up sets for sexual parties called freak offs. turning a blind eye in the midst of him harming many victims over the years. geoff: remind us how we got to this point because this indictment paints him as someone who is as dangerous as he is depraved. just a year ago, he was standing in the middle of times square, getting the ceremonial key to the city from the mayor of new york, eric adams. >> yes, this has been an

absolute flip of the switch on his career, legacy, his entire persona, and his level of prominence in the court of public opinion because all of this really tipped off last november when his girlfriend released her civil suit that really opened the floodgates and she detailed allegations that went back decades, similar to this 14 page indictment which starts in about 2008 and one of the key accusations that cassie makes is that diddy forced her to take illicit drugs for years and participate in these freak offs and do everything in his power to manipulate her life and livelihood for the sake of his own abuse of power over that time. even though diddy has been fashioned as something of like hip-hop great gatsby, someone

who has made the career of so many grades in rmb, he is someone who has been positioned as a titan of industry and will do anything to get the job done but now with all of these lawsuits rolling out, people are starting to change their opinion on the dark underbelly and the abuse of power it took to gain the reputation. geoff: how else do those litany of civil suits he is facing, how do they mirror or overlap with this federal indictment? sidney: the avalanche of a lot of the civil suits that really created a path elegy of behavior or an image of his behavior for decades, they really do run parallel to a lot of the claims made in this indictment. for example, back in march, two of his residences were rated by homeland security. one mention in ballet, one mention in miami, and that was kind of the first clue that there would be some criminal proceedings taking place off of

these civil lawsuits. his lawyer at the time even said that the search warrants were issued based off "meritless claims" made in civil suits and earlier today, the u.s. attorney damien williams, he basically confirmed that the civil suits and this criminal suit are inextricably linked because within that raid, he detailed how there were firearms seized, there were electronics that have evidence of these freak offs, these explicit sex parties that he forced people to take part in, and there were also stockpiles of a lot of the other supplies that were required for diddy defined pleasure in the sex parties and also used to blackmail his victims later. geoff: thank you so much. sidney: thank you.

amna: it has been a week since former president donald trump and his running mate, jd vance, through an ugly spot -- threw an ugly spotlight on springfield, ohio, by spreading claims about haitian people killing and eating people's pets. since then, the city has seen multiple bomb threats, school closures, and growing fear within the city's immigrant community. william brangham, who was in springfield earlier, just checked back in with residents and city officials now. threats coming in. what did they tell you about how they are handling all of this right now? william: they are having a hard time of it. they had over 33 different kinds of threats. neither threats coming in via phone or email saying there will be an attack or a bomb will go off in your facility.

those will be under investigation locally. none of them have turned out to be real. no bombs have been found. no attacks have happened. mike dewine said some of these threats are coming in from overseas from some foreign nation. he did not specify which nation it was but brian hecht told us they have to treat every single one of these threats as real. he said we do have problems with all of this large population that has come into our community. but then eating pets is not a problem but these bomb threats really are. >> it has been difficult. it has been a challenge for us. we were already facing the challenges and we were facing them head on as it related to the pace at which we've seen our population increase over the last couple of years. but now to be thrust into the national rhetoric of a highly heated presidential election cycle has just made it very difficult.

and, you know, it's really unfortunate that our residents have had to endure the impact that they have, especially based off of false claims and false narrative that we've seen here during this presidential election cycle. >> hate groups like the proud boys have been marching through the city. residents found these flyers from a group affiliated with the ku klux klan saying haitian immigrants in springfield were disease ridden and filthy. the city canceled a 20 year tradition in the city. its culture fest. there is an anti-immigrant march scheduled for the end of the month. amna: you have to imagine it is even worse for the haitians living in springfield. what are you hearing from them? william: a lot of fear, concern, confusion. we spoke to one man yesterday

who is a father of two young children. he and his wife say they live in constant fear. he has two full-time jobs. he said, i will only talk to you if you blare my face out and don't use my name because i don't want any additional publicity. here's what he said. >> it's not safe for haitians in springfield right now because myself, today's my day off. usually, i take my my son and go bike in in the park. and i cannot do that anymore because i'm scared. when you see accusations like that, lies about the haitian community, it is pure hatred. people actually hate us. we don't know who is going to hurt us or who is not going to hurt us. william: that is a very common sentiment. we spoke with a local pastor. she runs a grocery store that caters to the haitian community. she was followed around in her car by a man who followed her after a church service for several blocks. she tried to shake him and said

he would only leave when she finally pulled up next to a police car and started talking to the police. she said all of the vitriol that is being directed at the haitians in springfield overlooks what she argues is the enormous contributions they have made to the city of springfield. here is how she described that. >> it is sad. it is all over on the news. i asked myself, why all those? haitians helped to build green field. so why they don't see the good things the immigrants do? please, stop hurting us. we don't deserve that. amna: what about former president trump and senator vance? have they responded to any of this now? william: donald trump was asked about the bomb threats that followed after the unfounded rumors during the debate. he denied any knowledge of them. here's what he said. mr. trump: i don't know what happened with the bomb threats. i know it has been taken over by illegal migrants and it is a

terrible thing that happened. springfield was this beautiful town and now they are going through hell. william: to reiterate, the haitians in springfield, the majority of them are not here illegally. they are covered by temporary protected status. jd vance said on cnn this weekend that he had to create stories about immigrants in springfield so that people would pay attention to the larger immigration debate. i put that assertion to city manager brian hecht and here's what he said. >> any time someone wants to mislead or create stories to drum up attention, we know that is problematic. and we're seeing it played out and lived out in our community right now. how dangerous creating stories and spreading misinformation can be. william: he said if these bomb threats are coming from another nation that he and donald trump are blameless for any of the attacks that have been coming.

again, we need to reiterate that there are no credible reports that haitians have been harming people's pet. we asked the vance campaign for any names of individuals who they say have contacted them. they have come up with nobody. we spoke with a woman named casey rollins. she works directly with the haitian community in springfield and she says that seeing her city in the middle of this political campaign has been so dispiriting. >> i think everybody would agree on this side of the situation anyway that we are sort of being pawned. if we could stop politicizing and criminalizing and dehumanizing the actual people and make this a people initiative, that is all really we want to be able to do is just care for the folks that are here . and we stay out of the political realm. william: it does not seem that springfield will be out of the political realm. donald trump says he plans to visit the town soon. amna: william brangham, thank

you for covering this so deeply and empathetically and we appreciate that. william: thank you. amna: throughout all of the turmoil in springfield, ohio, governor mike dewine has called for calm. he sent additional law enforcement resources and condemned hate. welcome back to the news hour. inks for being with us. -- thanks for being with us. i want to say senator vance quoted you, saying you had said every single one of the bomb threats springfield, ohio, has seen was a hoax and all of the bomb threats came from foreign countries. for clarification, is that accurate? >> some of the bomb threats came from foreign countries and others came from in the united states. all of them have been hoaxes. that is correct. none of them have panned out. we checked each one out. but they have been very disruptive. schools have had to close. we put in our highway patrol to the school so they could be open

today and i was glad to see a lot of students were back when i visited there today. amna: when you say they are hoaxes, you are saying there have not actually been bombings to adjust threats. as you heard from my colleague's conversation with the springfield city manager, he said you have to respond to every one as if they could be real. if the intention is to so fear, is it working -- sow fear, is it working? >> we talked to first graders, second graders, teachers, and what the teacher's side is the kids are doing well today but yesterday, they had a tough day. that is how the teachers described it. if the kids are having a tough day, you can imagine the kids are having a tough day. it has been very disruptive. we have seen them close our university. we have seen clark state, our committee college, have to close, so this has been very disruptive and very concerning. our message has been we are going to supply the help. our schools need to stay open. we want parents to be able to

feel good about sending their children to school so we have put 36 members of the ohio state highway patrol, our special unit, literally in the schools. they go and in the morning and make sure there's no bombs, nothing. we want to be able to assure the parents that, you know, it is safe. if i was a parent, i would be concerned with all these different threats and all this rancor and hate. amna: to that point, governor, former president trump and senator vance have been leaning into dehumanizing and racist tropes about people in need who are illegally in your state, saying that they are stealing jobs and that they are stealing homes, and accusing them without evidence of barbaric behavior. is that language feeling these threats? >> the immigration issue and the border issue obviously is fair game. we can certainly do better on the border than we are doing. we could do a lot better. but if you want to talk about these individuals, these

haitians who are in our cities, look, they are legal. they came here because they want to work. they have been hired by local businessmen and women and when we talked to them the other morning, they told us these are great workers. they come to work. they want to work. in fact, they want to work overtime. they are being paid what anybody else would be paid. they have been a boost to the economy. springfield and ohio is really coming back and springfield has seen a lot of new industry come in. and there were not enough workers. this is what the companies told us, after the pandemic, when everything started moving forward. there were not enough workers so they started filling them with these haitians. those comments are about eating doxxing things, they are very hurtful. very hurtful for these men and

women who work very, very hard. they are obviously very hurtful for their children. amna: they are hurtful but are they also fueling these threats? >> look at, as the mayor said today, he said, you know, before this, you know, we had haitians here for three years, four years. and we did not have any of these. look, the people who are making these threats are the bad people. they are the wrong people. we have people who want to mess with the united states. we have some coming within the united states for people who are sick or who think for some reason that this is funny. amna: governor, i apologize. i know our time is limited. if these comments that are baseless that are being made by former president trump and senator vance, with those threats stopped if they were not being made -- stop if they were not being made? >> i don't know what happened but the statements are wrong. i have said they are wrong.

the mayor said they are wrong and, frankly, they need to stop. amna: there has been a real strain on city resources with the arrival of so many people in need. can i ask, as governor to those people, what kind of support can you offer from the state level and what is your message to those members of the haitian community who live in your state and are now incredibly scared? >> our message is you are welcome. we welcome legal immigrants to come to ohio who want to work, who want to raise their families, who want to be part of our community. i said that in my last inaugural speech and i will repeat it again. this is the way we feel. my message to them is you are very welcome in the community. look, there is no doubt -- everybody will say this -- that having 15,000 new people in the community over the last three or four years has stretched services. we are spending time today with my health director, you know, spoke of seeing on how we can continue to give the city and

local community more help in regard to primary care. we have primary care so no one should say there has not been a strain. there has been strain on the school but we are working hard. we are working hard every day and the local officials are working hard. the mayor is working hard. the school superintendent, to make this work. and to move forward. springfield has got a great future. amna: that is ohio governor mike dewine joining us tonight. governor, thank you for your time. always good to see you. >> thank you. ♪ geoff: mankind has mind the earth's surface for thousands of years, searching for the metals and minerals that have made it possible to build our cities, arm our militaries, and develop new technologies. now, there is a furious race to find even more metal that will enable the world's energy transition away from fossil fuels and that furious race

leads mining operators to hunt for deposits in increasingly remote locations. none more so than the floor of the distant bismarck see in papa new guinea -- sea in papa new guinea, in what may become the world's firs deep-sea mining site. a special correspondent traveled there to witness firsthand this extraordinary new industry. difficult and complex, but also dangerous and controversial. >> on the island of new ireland, getting out to sea can sometimes prove a struggle. a new jetty's construction the completion of nearby buildings remain projects for the future. but beneath these waves, there's a new kind of treasure rush for copper and gold that may one day soon help to fund them. this quiet pebbly beach on a remote pacific archipelago may not look like much, but just over the horizon a group of sailors and engineers are engaged in a series of

scientific tests. and the wealthy investors behind them hope that one day this lonely beach might become a gateway to a multi-billion dollar industry. a smoke-belching catamaran approaches. our ride across the bismarck sea, named for a long ago chancellor in germany, which once colonized this region. two hot, rolling hours later, in the distance, our destination appears. the mv coco. prow to stern, it measures 270 feet, a triumph of maritime technology, now 14,000 miles from home. several stories high, strong thrusters keep this ship entirely stationery for days at a time. 20 miles offshore, and on top of its target site, a mile beneath the surface. owned by a danish firm, o.c.t. offshore, it's been leased and refitted by a company called magellan, with more than a decade of deep sea expertise. yet journalists have never

before been allowed on board to document this kind of work deepsea mining. inside a darkened room, over 12 hour shifts, a pilot and co-pilot steer a remotely operated vehicle , or rov, far below their cockpit seats. they're supervised by john matheson. >> we're talking about an rov that's around a mile deep right now? >> yea. >> i see 1500 meters there. >> the pressure that's under, the weight of the water, can be massive. >> ando what's its job? >> it's basically the eyes, isn't it? we are also supplying the power. >> an umbilical cord and a separate cable connect the surface vessel to both the rov and a 12-ton grabbing mechanism far below. the rov transmits power to the grab and guides its movements as it punches and claws through the seafloor's surface, then scoops

up the resulting rocks. it deposits most of these spoils in a nearby stockpile, but twice a day hauls some up to the ship far above, with help from the crew, high up on the bridge, and an operator perched above the vast rear deck, where the enormous winch in perpetual motion is central to this ship's mission. underwater mapping experts monitor what's already been excavated and where , while also planning the next day's digging. these waters hardly seem to challenge the team from magellan, since it sometimes operates at four times these depths. the relatively calm surface here allow this massive mining experiment to continue, almost uninterrupted, 24/7, for more than two months. >> how difficult is this kind of work compared to other stuff

you've done in the past? >> operationally, it's as easy as we could probably get. but it takes a lot of strain on the rov, i would say. william: overseeing this operation is james holt, one of two so-called offshore managers aboard the coco. >> we've been given permission to remove 180 tons for sampling process. so you can get a better picture of what's actually down there, what the deposit looks like, how it's placed around. and then hopefully, we'll move forward into the full on mining permit, where we will be able to develop the whole site. william: this is a frontier industry and the team onboard the coco are essentially trying out this technique, hoping it will be financially rewarding and environmentally friendly enough to justify a far larger

effort, that would be the first of its kind on earth. as the grab's jaws unlock, out tumbles tons of rock, much of it visibly rich in copper. this latest haul is photographed, then broken up with a power drill for easier packing and processing. seen in slow motion, this time-consuming process forms part of this feasibility study to determine the most efficient approach to mining such deep sea sites. but the concentration of copper found here will also help decide if such a high-cost operation could be high-reward too. each grab of this material they bring up from the ocean floor weighs several tons, and with the current price of copper and the concentration of the metal they're finding in this ore, you're looking at several thousand dollars right here. you multiply that dozens of times and dozens of grabs each day and you're suddenly talking about real money. seeking to confirm the copper concentration is paul lahari, one of two onboard geologists from papua new guinea.

he pulls out several samples of the rocks to test inside his makeshift laboratory just yards away. he used a device, called an xrf, that can offer a rough estimate of the metal concentration or grade inside each chunk he's selected. >> that means you've done 350 of these already this trip? >> that's correct, yes. so basically it's not the number of grabs that come on board, what happens is you also count the number of grabs from excavating site, to stockpile. >> what are you expecting to find in this rock, and what do you hope to find? >> well, i'm hoping to find if i can get good grades of copper, and if the xrf can detect the gold as well , i think that would be pretty good. >> the gold? >> the gold and copper. >> every one of the 180 tons brought on board will eventually be tested back on shore, in australia, to get the most accurate data. another local scientist on board is focused not on the potential wealth this venture might create but the potential harm it may cause. each time the grabbing device

heads to the surface with fresh material from the seabed floor, nicole frani collects data on how this impacts the nearby ocean.she does this in part with a couple dozen tubes lowered hundreds of feet down on yet another winch, designed to sample water at a dozen different depths below the vessel. >> it triggers according to the pressures and once it comes back up, it brings up water samples of each depth, 12 depths, goes back down, on deck, switch it off, put the caps on, then i collect the water quality meter from each of the sample bottles. her major focus is monitoring the cloud of silt that's disturbed from the sea bed known as the "plume." >> we need to know how widely it's spreading out and how it can affect the sea life below. if there's so much plume going around, or if it settles, it may harm the sea life, and the biodiversity underneath. and this kind of data collection is key to the work of this

entire crew. >> the major part of our job here is accurate log keeping of where the samples are coming from, what depth the samples are coming from, how much energy was used to actually produce that sample. and that together with the environmental data, when we pull up the two environmental moorings that we've put in place, which are monitoring, you know, what's going on here all the time, then we'll be able to present a decent case for why we should be allowed to start commercial mining here. >> that case must be made to papua new guinea's government and local communities. navigating those two challenges that we'll examine in our next reports could make this complex engineering effort onboard seem relatively straightforward. for the pbs newshour, i'm willem marx in the bismarck sea.

geoff: for decades, dr. francis collins has been at the forefront of the world's most advanced biomedical research. he led the human genome project since its inception in 1993 and then went on to become the longest-serving director of the national institutes of health, where he oversaw the country's response to the covid-19 pandemic. collins has since retired but is now drawing on his groundbreaking career to focus on what he sees as the core pillars of wisdom during a time of deep polarization. we sat down recently to discuss his new book, "the road to wisdom: on truth, science, faith, and trust", sot francis -- trust." welcome back to the news hour. dr. collins: it is great to be here in your beautiful space. geoff: you said your goal in writing this book was to turn the focus away from hyper partizan politics and back to what you see as the most important sources of wisdom -- truth, science, faith, and trust.

how did you settle on those four as the most important sources of wisdom? dr. collins: jeff, i spent a lot of time in the public eye as nih director, and before that, the leader of the human genome project. and i have this vision of how science and truth can bring us into a place of less suffering and more flourishing. but i couldn't help but notice in the last few years that we seem to have kind of lost our way in some of these aspects. we don't seem to agree about what objective truth is all about or even whether there is such a thing. distrust of science has grown, even as science has been delivering some amazing things in the course of the last few years. faith, which ought to be a foundation we could anchor ourselves on at difficult times, seems to have also been readily pushed aside by politics, even in our churches. and a lot of the problem is we haven't really figured out how do we decide who to trust. how do we anchor ourselves in sources that are actually else is coming at us? you put those four together and you've got something pretty

reliable, even a road to wisdom, which is not just knowledge, it's also understanding. it's a moral framework. but our road to wisdom right now feels like it's got a whole lot of bumps. and i've had a few myself. i want to be clear about this. i'm on this road too, and occasionally i find myself in the ditch. but it feels like we really need to re anchor ourselves in those four things truth, science, faith and trust, so that we have a better chance to move our society forward. because i think we'd all agree it's not looking so good right now with all the polarization and the cynicism and the hyper partizanship. geoff: on the topic of faith. this is a central theme in the book, the compatibility, as you see it, of science and faith. you present a harmony between the two, which is interesting because the common perception is that faith and science are inherently incompatible. dr. collins: that is a common perception. it's unfortunate that it is, and

it's a fairly recent american emphasis, was not always so. people doing science in the 16th and 17th century were almost all believers who saw science as a means of investigating god's creation and being able to be even more worshipful as a result. but somehow, in our culture, we have the idea that science and faith are in some sort of irreconcilable conflict. i did not grow up a person of faith. i became a christian at age 27, and people said, well, you're a scientist. your head's going to blow up because these things are just not going to work out together. i have never encountered a situation where i see it that way. science is great at answering those questions, and if you want to know how something in nature works, you science. but if you want to know why, why am i here? why is there something instead of nothing? science doesn't have much to say there. faith has a lot to say. geoff: well, you write about your personal journey in the book. you say that you once thought atheism was the only rational option for a thinking person. what for you changed? dr. collins: i really had to look at what my basis was for

that claim because i hadn't spent much time investigating it. and the more i began to look at how people have stepped into belief instead of atheism, i realized there's a lot of rational arguments there that i had ignored the whole argument about the fact that there is something instead of nothing. there was the big bang out of nothingness. a universe was created, a universe that follows exquisite mathematical laws and has fine tuning in those laws to make it interesting for something to happen. you can't look at that and not marvel at it and not come to the conclusion, seems like there's an intelligence behind all of this. an amazing physicist, mathematician. but then i also had to struggle with the moral of good and evil. for an atheist who is really strict about their atheists, and that's a big problem. -- strict about their atheistm, and that's a big problem. is that just something that we've been hoodwinked into by evolutionary constraints that we think there is such a thing as

good and evil, but there really isn't. i don't know very many people who are comfortable with that . geoff: have your scientific and spiritual worldviews ever clashed? dr. collins: not in a way that i couldn't figure out how to resolve. there are certainly times where on the surface of it, it seems like there is an issue here, and obviously the one that i think causes a lot of trouble for people of faith is origins. where do humans come from? as a scientist, especially one who studies dna. i can tell you that we humans are part of a remarkable tapestry of evolutionary connections between lots of other organisms. we're part of that. we're not separate. and yet, at the same time, genesis wanted to talk about the special relationship that god has with his people between adam and eve. and there on. so how do i put that together? i think it's entirely possible to do so if you don't insist upon an ultra literal reading of certain scriptures like genesis one and two and go back to saint augustine in 400 a.d., and he would have warned us against such literal readings as not

being required by the words of the scripture and potentially putting you in a circumstance of making faith look silly by claiming that one interpretation has to be right and then finding out it doesn't fit. geoff: how has your faith influenced your approach to scientific inquiry? dr. collins: i think it has added a dimension to it. for me, science is and it's a detective story. it's trying to understand how things work. and you do experiments and sometimes they take you down a blind alley and you're like, darn, that wasn't it. and eventually you come up with a solution, and then it's something that's satisfying. it's beautiful. and if you're a scientist who's also a believer, you just got a glimpse of god's mind in that regard. i think of the laboratory as a cathedral also, and science is kind of a form of worship, if you want to put it in in those terms. geoff: dr. francis collins, the book is the road to wisdom,

on truth, science, faith and trust. thanks so much for being here. we appreciate it. dr. collins: wonderful to be with you. geoff: and join us again here tomorrow night for the latest on the federal reserve's first expected interest rate cut in four years. and that's the news hour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular. this is sam. how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. well, somebody's pocket, thought i'd let you know that with consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that's kind of our thing. have a nice day. ♪ ♪

>> moving our economy for 160 years, bnsf, the engine that connects us. carnegie corporation of new york, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. more information at carnegie.org, and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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hello, everyone, and welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming up. a second assassination attempt on former president trump. we look at the increasing political violence and tensions around the elections in the united states. then -- >> wew