yuri milner: i don't know.ments in the area of life sciences might make it easier to see that happening. but i think the most important thing is that we push this thing forward, and maybe we can pass the baton to the next generation so they can realize the results of it. i think we don't remember it is much, but the cathedrals were built by many generations, and i think that this is the kind of project that will take a lot of effort. we've had a lot of technical challenges, but the challenges are not insurmountable. >> this is a philanthropic effort, but richard branson and jeff bezos want to take tourists into space. elon musk, who is behind spacex, wants to colonize mars. is it right in your mind that space is kind of becoming a playground for billionaires? yuri milner: well, i honestly historicrom an perspective, it is not going to matter. because nobody remembers right now who funded columbus's exhibition. was it government funding? was it a combination of private donors? was it a public funding of sorts at

let's start with russian billionaire yuri milner. what you doing, man?milner is joining forces with physicist stephen hawking for a $100 million project called breakthrough starshot. >> larry: breakthrough starshot? [ laughter ] wait, does this mean i have so rename the toddler beauty pageant i host every other weekend? [ laughter ] all right. what is this billionaire-funded breakthrough starshot? >> project starshot will enable us to see if there's any life near to our nearest stellar neighbors. the plan is to create a swarm of postage-sized spacecraft. each device would also contain a camera and communication equipment, all of it weighing less than an ounce. >> larry: of course, the tiny postage-sized spacecraft will be piloted by kevin hart. [ laughter ] thank you for your service kevin. oh, i mean -- [ laughter ] but honestly, this is a truly awesome endeavor. listen to this. >> it could get to the nearest star to our galaxy in about 20 years. >> larry: amazing! tens of trillions of miles in 20 years! that's within our lifetimes, assuming we don't al

is committing 100- million dol entrepreneur, yuri milner is >>> yuri milner is committing $100 millionamp sized spacecraft into space. nc is called break through star shot. the idea? steso find intelligent life in outer space, even would have a camera and -- each would have a camera and communications equipment. >> this is a thousand times faster than the fastest spacecraft today. >> uc berkeley and mark zuckerberg are involved. milner has donated $100 million previously to cal to the study listen program. >>> a huge on for a san jose student who earned a perfect score on the ac calculus test. he has been invited to the science fair at the white house. just 11 other students had perfect scores on last year's test. four other students from the bay area will be at the fair, showing off their projects. >>> did you know dennis o'donnell scored 99%? almost 100, almost got it. >> calculus. >> not your strength. here we go out here. we have cloudy skies, 62 degrees in oakland, 59 in livermore, san francisco, 57. it's chilly out this! a little breezy, too. san jose, 60, santa santa rosa . it's

yuri milner is known for his bold investments.ced yesterday that he would spend money on the search for alien civilizations. act -- asked the investor where the companies are headed and what he likes now. yuri: i think that the technological revolution is unstoppable. i think that innovation has been happening for so long that we don't have any reason to believe it. . what we do is invest in innovation. every generation brings a contribution to innovation. if history is any lesson, every generation will build their own companies. like alibaba, spotify -- you would believe that innovation .ill be dominated by companies every generation is building their own companies. so innovation may be unstoppable . erik: you have to make intelligent choices about who to investment and what technologies. what appeals to you right now? yuri: we continue to believe that things are moving mobile. mobile innovation is a steady business to stay and. erik: years ago, you told me you would continue to be invested with the founders of the companies whic

i'm here with yuri milner. fascinating visitation with stephen hawking and the panel that included scientists and astronauts. spending $100 million of your own money on a so-called star shot. you want to build miniature spacecraft that will flight to the 5 trillion miles to the closest star system. why? >> well, i think this is a new frontier. historically, we have been .rossing multiple frontiers coming out of africa was a big leap. you know, flying was a big leap. going around the world was a big in space,e first man i was named after him. that was an enormous development. erik: of five years ago today. >> and i think every generation needs to have this leap ahead of them. i think going to the stars has been dreamed of for so long by so many that it is really that we can announce this project today, and the 21st century, based on developments that happened in technology in the last 15 years. erik: what do you hope to find in this project, extraterrestrial life, planets that humans good and habit in the distan

yuri milner plans to send thousands of them into space in search of life. >> we can do more than just gaze at the stars. we can actually reach them. >> reporter: he made the announcement for the $100 million project that rectory star shot today. alongside his stephen hawking. >> i believe what makes us unique is transcending our limits. >> reporter: milner wants to send the probes to the alpha centauri star system. >> we want to see if there's any life nearest to our news dallas -- stellar neighbors. >> reporter: they can be so small because of recent advances in smart phone technology. it would be about the price you pay for an iphone. each spacecraft would contain cameras and communication equipment olivette weighing less than an ounce. they would be shaped to operate like a sail with wind power coming from lasers on earth. >> it's 1000 times faster than the fastest spacecraft today. >> reporter: milner says once they are launched they should reach the star system within 20 years. kenneth craig cbs news new york. >>> back here on earth -- it is chilly today. >> the sun is out it's g

. >> reporter: yuri milner and steve hawking announced their plans to send them to the nearest star system. the project is called break through star shot, hawking has als, and spoke through a computer at the press conference. >> i believe what makes us unique is transcending our limits. >> reporter: some of the top scientists will serve as advisors. after they are perfected and launched, they should reach the star system in 20 years. the engineer is optimistic it will happen in his lifetime. >> i think it's not just for me, it's for everyone, that are we alone? that's an age old question, and if we're not, where is the intelligent life? and can we communicate with them. >> reporter: in memo park, betty yu. >> city of san francisco, about to remove dozens of newspaper racks, to reduce what it calls urban blight, the public works department says empty and under used news racks are magnets for trash, and graffiti, and they intend to clutter up the sidewalk. the plan is to get rid of 60 racks, by the end of may. later this year, new pedestals will go up in about 50 carefully chosen spots. they

russian billionaire yuri milner backed by stephen hawking and mark zuckerberg announced a $100 million plan to send probes to the nearest star system. it's call eed star shot. a chip the size of an iphone would be equipped with a solar sail fired by lasers fired from the earth. it would travel at 20% the speed of light, and that's fast enough to take the trip in just 20 years. stash standards probes would take over 70,000 years. milner admitted the project would likely take two decades to prepare. for the four years it would take for the images to get back to us, it won't be your desktop background until at least 2060. >>> it is one of the largest donations ever for cancer research. shawn parker, the guy behind napster and the founding president of facebook, has announced he's giving $250 million to six cancer centers nationwide. the donations will go to fund a consortium of more than 300 scientists researching cancer immun immunotherapy. you may recall former president jimmy carter was diagnosed with melanoma that spread to his liver and brain. after being put on a treatment, he annou

. >> reporter: billionaire russian investor yuri milner and stephen hawking announced plans to send thousands of these tiny space probes to our nearest star system, the alpha centauri. the project is called breakthrough starshot. >> i believe what makes us you neek is transcending our limits. >> reporter: some of sillicon valley's top scientists and engineers will serve as advisers on the project. after the spacecraft are perfected and launched, they should reach the star system within 20 years. santa clara university engineering professor [ non- english language ] is optimistic it will happen in his lifetime. >> i think it's not just for me, it's for every person that lives on earth that, are we alone? that's the question. if we are not, where is the intelligent life in space? can we communicate with them? >> reporter: in menlo park, betty yu, kpix 5. ♪[ music ] >>> 4:51. teaching new lessons on a modernday issue. next we go inside the oakland museum's new exhibit all about pot. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, she got lost in the wilderns for nine whole days --- and lived to tell about >>> low pressure in

russian billionaire yuri milner backed by stephen hawking and mark zukerman is announcing a plan to send a satellite to alpha centauri. it would be equipped with a solar sail and fired from the earth and the probe would travel at the speed of light. standard probes would take over 70,000 years to make the same trip. milner said it would take two decades to prepare so with the four years it would take for images to get back to us, it won't be your desktop background until at least 2060. we've got a little time. >>> well, it is one of the largest donations ever though for cancer research. shawn parker behind napster and the founding president of facebook has announced he's gives donations nationwide. it will go to fund 300 scientists researching cancer and it's a new field that looks to use the body's own immune system to kill the cancer cells. former president carter was diagnosed with melanoma that spread to his liver and brain. after being putting on a new drug treatment he announced he was cancer free. >>> new developments in the killing of will smith. police said they found a loaded g

russian entrepreneur yuri milner and renowned professor stephen hawking and their plan to invest in aould launch interstellar travel. and right after, professor hawking exclusively with us. we gave hawking, who communicates with a computer, a heads up about what we'd be asking. it's an ambitious plan, to build tiny spaceships, nano-crafts, that could one day travel beyond the planets, to the nearest star system. catapulting us into the interstellar age. do you have the spacecraft with you? >> i do. >> reporter: can i look at it? >> sure. >> reporter: he shows me the size. a spacecraft one day powered by light beams. so, this is it? it doesn't look like a space shuttle or "voyager." >> the ultimate spacecraft is going to be about the size of this, maybe quite a bit lighter and having much more functionality. >> reporter: it's pretty light to begin with. and right beside him, one of the smartest minds in the world, professor stephen hawking, whose groundbreaking work was celebrated in "the theory of everything." in your mind, knowing what you know already, what do you expect to find, th

russian billionaire yuri milner there. tomorrow, we are joined by keith the geoeye. all today from san francisco. rabois.h that is all today from san francisco. ♪ our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. charlie: the second liberian civil war which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. it clips focuses on the lives of five liberian women living through that -- eclipse focuses on the lives of five liberian women living through that struggle. made broadway history earlier this year, becoming the first production

it's backed by yuri milner with the support of stephen hawkings. the plan calls for launching thousands of tiny spacecraft into space and using earth-based lasers to propel them at 1/5 the speed of light. even at that speed, it will take 20 years for the spacecraft to complete their journey to another system. >> we'll see what we find. it's 6:20. up next, you're first look at the tribeca film festival. >> these are live pictures from chopper 4. these are verizon workers in livingston, new jersey. there's nearly 40,000 workers who began the strike about 20 minutes ago at 6:00 a.m. we're staying on top of the story and we'll have a live fios is not cable. we're wired differently. in the last 10 years our competitors ti have received a few awards. but we've received a few more, including jd power who ranked us highest in customer satisfaction for the third year in a row. only fios has the fastest internet on the most awarded network. noonw get super-fast 100 meg internet tv and phone for just $69.99 per month, online. cable can't offer internet speeds

billionaire russian investor yuri milner and famed physicist stephen hawking announced their plans tonds of tiny space probes to our nearest star system. the spacecraft is about the size of a stamp, weighs less than an ounce and can carry cameras. it would be built to operate like a sail with the wind power coming from lasers on earth. >> i think it's not just for me, it's for every person i believe on the earth that, are we alone? that's the question. if we're not alone, where is other life in space and can we communicate with them? >> after the spacecraft are perfected and launched they should reach the star system within 20 years. >> pretty cool to see what they can find if anything. >> who knows. . >>> how are the roads? >> a little better in some spots. live look at the san mateo bridge. not too many delays. 15 minutes between 880 and 101. here's a wisconsin in effect but it's gusty as you work your way across the span. drive times okay out of hayward into foster city. hayward southbound into fremont, slower speeds but moving along nothing major there. southbound 680 from the ben

and, russian billionaire investor yuri milner pledged $100 million today to send tiny spaceships to thestars. the goal is to hunt for life in alpha centauri, the star system closest to our solar system. each probe will have a so-called light sail. they'll capture energy from lasers on earth, and could travel at a fifth the speed of light-- far faster than any current craft. still to come on the newshour: the possibilities around a contested republican convention. the last of the big banks settles over the financial crisis. is it still too big to fail? a trip to the happiest nation on earth, and much more. >> woodruff: and we begin with politics tonight. as we just heard, the race for the white house is partly a battle for delegates, and neither party has a candidate with enough delegates yet to clinch the nomination. democrats hillary clinton and bernie sanders are within a few hundred pledged delegates of one another. but add in superdelegates, and she has a commanding lead. for republicans, donald trump leads the delegate count, with ted cruz a few hundred behind, and john kasich well