hepburn says r.n.a.could stop the next wuhan-like outbreak cold. >> hepburn: it's really beyond vaccines, that's our future. that's our next step. >> whitaker: shoot for the moon. >> hepburn: shoot for the moon. >> whitaker: some pentagon researchers are shooting higher. with the spread of dangerous new coronavirus variants, the army's dr. kayvon modjarrad is testing a revolutionary approach to stop them all. >> dr. kayvon modjarrad: we're trying to not just make a vaccine for this virus. we're trying to make a vaccine for the whole family of coronaviruses. this is the core of our vaccine. we engineer the spike so that we can attach it to this protein. >> whitaker: if his concept, now in clinical trials, proves successful, dr. modjarrad says in five years a single vaccine could defeat all coronaviruses. that means many common colds, the deadly strain causing this pandemic and thousands of others. is that, at this point, a dream? >> modjarrad: this is not science fiction. this is science fact. we have the