facilities the size of san francisco. >> kroft: really? >> venter: yes. >> kroft: the city?> venter: yeah. >> kroft: venter and his team are not the only players in this growing field known as synthetic biology. for years, dupont has been using genetically modified bacteria to make a compound used in clothing and carpets. amyris discovered a way to genetically modify yeast to produce an anti-malarial drug. another company, ls9, has altered the genes of e. coli bacteria to produce fuel. but all of them are modifying a few genes, not designing all of them. venter's rivals say his method is commercially impractical. but he's made a career out of bucking the scientific establishment, and earned lots of enemies with his brash behavior and his knack for grabbing research money and the spotlight. so, what are your faults? >> venter: probably impatience is the... you know, the biggest one. i don't suffer fools too well. that, you know, i'm not going to ever win a political contest. >> kroft: a lot of people have said you're a self-promoter, an egomaniac? >> venter: yeah. >> kroft: t

for more news and scores log on to cbssports.com ,,,,,,,, >> kroft: i'm steve kroft. and so will the rest of us-- for another edition of "60 minutes." being a leader means moving fast. across the country when the economy tumbled, jpmorgan chase set up new offices to work one-on-one with homeowners. since 2009, we've helped over 200,000 americans keep their homes. and we're reaching out to small businesses too, increasing our lending commitment this year to $10 billion and giving businesses the opportunity to ask for a second review if they feel their loan should have been approved. this is how recoveries happen. everyone doing their part. this is the way forward. right now at sears . living... ...and beautiful ty pennington collections. be the santa you want to be. find your santa at sears.com. the new healthcare law gives us powerful new tools to fight it.... to investigate it... prosecute it... and stop criminals. our senior medicare patrol volunteers... are teaching seniors across the country... ...to stop, spot, and report fraud. you can help. guard your medicare

and it's something that i've got to examine carefully as i go forward. >> you can watch steve kroft's entire interview with the president on this sunday's "60 minutes." >>> this morning, a winner in the washington state senate contest. democrat patty murray has narrowly defeated republican challenger dino rossi to win a fourth term. democrats now control the senate with 53 seats. >>> turning now to health news and a promising development in the fight against lung cancer. a major government study shows a high-tech way of screening for the disease can drastically reduce the death toll. michael her zen berg has more. >> reporter: this 67-year-old believes this device saved her life. the former smoker had a ct scan in 2008 that spotted the earliest signs of lung cancer. >> god gave me a second chance in life. and that's how i look at it. >> reporter: traditionally doctors use x-rays to screen high-risk lung cancer patients. but a new study finds ct scans are superior at saving lives. >> this is one of the most important cancer findings in the last ten years. >> reporter: researchers split

but in an interview to be broadcast on "60 minutes" tonight, steve kroft asked the president if he'd be interested in extending the bush tax cuts for those upper-income americans temporarily, say, two years? presumably, in order to extend the tax cuts that he wants for lower-income americans. let's just first listen to what president obama said. >> hopefully, we can agree on a set of facts that leads to a compromise. but my number one priority coming into this is making sure that middle class families don't see their tax rates go up january 1. >> do you want to make a counterproposal to him right now? >> ( laughs ) i think i've already invited them over to the white house. >> schieffer: all right. senator, does that sound like a starting point for serious negotiations? can you do some business with the president on the basis of that? >> sure. we hope to do business with the business on a number of things. i think the issue here is whether you want to raise taxes on small businesses in the middle of what most americans think is a recession. i and all of my members think it's a bad ide

. >> kroft: is this a defeat? a reflection on your leadership? >> i think that what happened over the course of the two years was that we had to take a series of big emergency steps quickly, most of them in the first six months of my administration. each of them had a big price tag. you got intervention in the banks, you've got the auto bailout, you've got a stimulus package. each one with a lot of zeroes behind it. and people looked at that and they said "boy, this feels as if there's a huge expansion of government." >> well, it was a huge expansion of government. >> what i didn't effectively, i think, drive home-- because we were in such a rush to get this stuff done-- is that we were taking these steps not because of some theory that we wanted to expand government, it was because we had an emergency situation and we wanted to make sure the economy didn't go off a cliff. >> couric: the complete interview with president obama will air this sunday night on "60 minutes." when it convenes in january, the new 112th c

last night we watched as obama sat down with sixty minutes for a post-mortem sixty minutes host steve kroft did a long winded interview with obama about everything from the financial bailout to the war in afghanistan and kroft had to ask the obvious question what can be done about the unemployment epidemic that's hurting the country right now. you've lost a lot of your base on tuesday a lot of the people that helped elect you two years ago. voted for republicans women senior citizens independent young people and african-americans did not turn out in large numbers how do you explain that well as i said i think that folks are frustrated with what they've seen over the last two years. that was the wrong question but let's just say that the economy is what obama blamed for everyone's unhappy attitudes now that certainly isn't the obama that we're used to that sadly there's a grim dour demeanor was the only side of obama that america saw during the very lengthy interview i don't get it what happened to the smiling energetic obama from the campaign trail the oratorical master obama the politician

tonight on "60 minutes," steve kroft talks to president obama in his first post-election interview. back in washington, energized by their success at all levels of government in last week's elections, republican leaders vowed today to challenge president obama's health care law any way they can. jan crawford has more. >> reporter: after big victories in tuesday's elections, republicans are taking aim at one of their first targets, health care. >> people who supported us, political independents want it repealed and replaced with something else. >> we'll do everything we can to repeal and replace this thing. >> reporter: signed into law this spring, health care is one of president obama's defining accomplishments. >> this was the right thing to do. >> reporter: polls show americans are split on the issue, and there is this reality: with democrats controlling the senate and the white house, a complete repeal is all but impossible. >> you can't fully repeal until you have a new president and a better senate. >> so republicans are pursuing other strategies to battle the health care law,

police were called to the 5800 block of ban kroft and east oakland to investigate a domestic violence call. the shooting victim, derrick jones, apparently took off on foot. police then say they saw him reach for his waistband. they yelled at him to put his hands up, and when he didn't, they opened fire. >> during the foot chase, the suspect was seen grabbing at his waistband. this occurred several times. this is a move obviously of someone consistent with reaching for a weapon, possibly arming himself. >> jones was a barber for 20 years. many of his clients came to his parents' home to pay their respects. >> my brother was taken too soon. he was shot several times and justice needs to be served. >> are you asking for a riot in oakland? are you -- what are you doing to the black community, okay? >> the jones family met with civil rights attorney john burris who tells nbc bay area that he is looking into the matter. he's the attorney who represents os gar grant's family. >>> good evening. i'm chief meteorologist jeff paneri. showers rolled in quickly. we're tracking the system as it mov

. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm anderson cooperley. those stories and andy rooney tonight on "60 minutes." ♪ ♪ ♪ [ crowd groans ] ♪ [ crowd cheering ] [ male announcer ] at&t, the nation's fastest mobile broadband network. period. that while you may come from the same family... you know, son, you should take up something more strenuous. you have different needs and desires. - i'm reading a book. - what's a book? so we tailor plans for individuals, featuring a range of integrated solutions. - you at your usual restaurant? - son: maybe. see you tomorrow. - stairs? - elevator. to see how our multi-faceted approach... can benefit your multi-generational wealth, look ahead with us at northerntrust.com. >> pelley: tonight, cnn's anderson cooper on assignment for "60 minutes." >> cooper: president obama wants to begin withdrawing american forces from afghanistan next summer, but his ability to do that will largely depend on how quickly afghan security forces can be trained to takeover the fight. while the afghan army has made some strides

. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm lara logan. >> i'm byron pitts. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories and andy rooney tonight on "60 minutes." look at all the toyota's for sale. let's go with... i'm selling my toyota rav4. do you know anything at all about the escape? it's a nice light blue color. much like my eyes. my goodness, it's true. the mileage is extraordinary. 28 miles per gallon on the highway. it's a voice-activated sync system. all around, it's better than my toyota. get our best deals. 0% financing and, as a holiday bonus, we'll give you $1500 to use toward your first three payments. is it wrong to drive a toyota to ford's year end celebration? not if you leave it behind. [ man ] i thought our family business would always be boots. until one day, my daughter showed me a designer handbag. and like that, we had a new side to our business. [ male announcer ] when businesses see an opportunity, the hartford is there. protecting their employees and property and helping them prepare for the future. nice boots. nice bag. [ male announcer ] see ho

. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories and andy rooney tonight on "60 minutes." rate boxes working out? fabulous! they gave me this great idea. yea? we mail documents all over the country, so, what if there were priority mail flat rate... envelopes? yes! you could ship to any state... for a low flat rate? yes! a really low flat rate. like $4.90? yes! and it could look like a flat rate box... only flatter? like this? you...me...genius. genius. priority mail flat rate envelopes. just $4.90. only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. being a leader means moving fast. across the country when the economy tumbled, jpmorgan chase set up new offices to work one-on-one with homeowners. since 2009, we've helped over 200,000 americans keep their homes. and we're reaching out to small businesses too, increasing our lending commitment this year to $10 billion and giving businesses the opportunity to ask for a second review if they feel their loan should have been approved. this is how recov

so general scofe kroft who is cochairman of the aspen strategy group and george w. bush's national security advisor. not since henry kiss singer dined alone has that been such a constellation of security advisors. >> i want to talk to you gem jones, do you think in the middle east, that prime minister netanyahu can get to peace or should we take more aggressive action? >> i think the administration has worked diligently with both of the gentlemen for quite a while. it is not quite two years. we certainly spent a lot of time with both trying to bring them to the -- to the table and try to get them to -- to understand just how important it is -- strategically, globally, that we find a -- a solution to the middle east problem,. i don't know when the time comes when -- when you go to another solution, but it is clear that we're having a difficult time figuring out exactly what it is that gets them to the -- to the substantive part of the discussion because we're -- we're, we're the lines have been drawn at the -- at a pretty tactical level. the strategic -- the strategi