This week on "Sunday Morning" (March 3)

The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET.  "Sunday Morning" also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET. (Download it here.) 

Hosted by Jane Pauley

WATCH THE FULL MARCH 3 BROADCAST!

COVER STORY: The mRNA miracle workers | Watch Video
More than one million people died just in the U.S. as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that broke out in 2020. But a scientific miracle – a vaccine released later that same year – saved countless lives. Last year Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, the two scientists whose research in messenger RNA (or mRNA) and immunology enabled the development of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines, were named Nobel Prize-winners. "Sunday Morning" contributor Kelefa Sanneh talks with Weissman and Karikó about their partnership, and the unusual trajectories of their lives that led to a breakthrough that may reshape vaccine treatment for a host of diseases.

For more info:

Katalin Karikó, Penn MedicineDrew Weissman, Penn Medicine2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

    
ALMANAC: March 3 (Video)
"Sunday Morning" looks back at historical events on this date.

ARTS: A revelatory exhibition of Mark Rothko paintings on paper | Watch Video
His abstract expressionist canvases are among the most recognizable of all 20th century artists' works. But Mark Rothko (1903-1970) also produced nearly 3,000 pieces on paper – smaller in scale but just as innovative. CBS News chief election & campaign correspondent Robert Costa visits an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., that explores the trail of paper works the artist left behind, and talks with curator Adam Greenhalgh, and with the artist's children, Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko, about Rothko's remarkable vision.

For more info:

"Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper," at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (through March 31)Exhibition catalog: "Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper" by Adam Greenhalgh (Hardcover), available from the National Gallery Art and via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.orgmark-rothko.orgExhibition: "Mark Rothko," at Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (through April 2)Rothko Works on canvas © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher RothkoRothko Works on paper© 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

WORLD: Garisenda, Italy's other leaning tower (Video)
Pisa, in Italy's Tuscany region, is renowned for its photogenic Leaning Tower, which snapshot-eager tourists position themselves to "support." But Italy has another leaning tower, the 150-foot high Garisenda, a 12th century structure in Bologna that was recently closed while engineers rush to prevent its collapse. Correspondent Seth Doane looks at efforts to save these historic sites.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Saving the Leaning Tower of Pisa | Watch Video
On December 15, 2001, one of the world's most recognizable and beloved landmarks reopened to the public after an 11-year renovation aimed at preventing a catastrophe.

For more info:

Paolo Foraboschi, associate professor, Iuav University of VeniceChef Michele Casadei MassariLucciola, New York City

MOVIES: "Hits, Flops and Other Illusions": Director Ed Zwick on a life in Hollywood | Watch Video
He's the Emmy- and Oscar-winning producer and director of such films as "Glory" and "Blood Diamond" and the TV series "thirtysomething." Now, Ed Zwick plumbs his 40-year career for a memoir that offers an unvarnished take on the industry and his own experiences on the front lines of entertainment, "Hits, Flops and Other Illusions." He talks with correspondent Luke Burbank about the heroes and villains, the art of compromise, and the vagaries of success.

READ AN EXCERPT: "Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions" by Ed Zwick
In his entertaining new memoir, the award-winning director-producer recounts four tempestuous decades in Hollywood, which included a fake TV newscast in which he blew up Charleston, S.C.

For more info:

"Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood" by Ed Zwick (Gallery Books), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

PASSAGE: Iris Apfel, Richard Lewis and David Culhane | Watch Video
"Sunday Morning" remembers a fashion trendsetter, stand-up comedian and actor, and veteran CBS News journalist.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Rescuing Block Island's Southeast Lighthouse (YouTube Video)
We learned of the death, at age 93, of journalist David Culhane, who had served as a correspondent for CBS News and NPR. In this "Sunday Morning" story that originally aired September 4, 1994, Culhane reported on efforts to rescue a lighthouse on Block Island, which was in danger of falling into the sea, by moving the nearly 2,000-ton structure back from eroding cliffs.

   
LAW: The Trump trials: A former president faces justice | Watch Video
Beginning this month in New York City, former President Donald Trump will stand in the first of four state and federal trials in which he faces a total of 91 criminal charges, from financial fraud, to conspiring to overturn the election he lost in 2020, to keeping classified documents at his home in Florida. Trump's defenders equate the prosecution of a presidential candidate with "election interference," but Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissmann, authors of "The Trump Indictments," call the trials of a former president a defining moment in the rule of law. "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports.

For more info:

"The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents with Commentary" by Melissa Murray & Andrew Weissmann (W.W. Norton & Company), in Trade Paperback and eBook formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.orgMelissa Murray, professor of law, New York UniversityAndrew Weissmann, professor of practice, New York UniversityRobert Ray, partner, Zeichner, Ellman & KrausePresidential historian Douglas Brinkley

    
HARTMAN: A coach's promise (Video)
When he was 12, Sam Cunningham was diagnosed with leukemia. Soon after, Auburn University basketball coach Bruce Pearl recorded an inspirational video for Sam, telling him, "Cancer picked the wrong hombre." And Pearl did more than just inspire a cancer patient: he made a promise to the young man, a promise he has since kept, now that Cunningham is a freshman at Auburn. Steve Hartman reports.   

COMEDY: For Kevin James, all roads lead back to stand-up | Watch Video
He had a nine-year run starring in the CBS sitcom "The King of Queens," and topped the box office charts with the comedy "Paul Blart: Mall Cop." But comedian Kevin James reserves his greatest affection for stand-up, which the college dropout honed while moonlighting at Long Island comedy clubs. James talks with correspondent Jim Axelrod about why he's thankful he bombed his audition for "Saturday Night Live," and why he keeps going back to his stand-up roots.

To watch a trailer for "Kevin James: Irregardless" click on the video player below:

For more info:

"Kevin James: Irregardless" is now streaming on Amazon Primekevinjames.com | Tour info

MUSIC: Multi-instrumentalist, musical maximalist Jacob Collier talks collaboration (Video)
To follow his 2016 debut album "In My Room," in which he played every instrument, and recorded every vocal track, all inside a small room in his childhood home in North London, Jacob Collier didn't record one album – he recorded a four-album cycle. Using the editing software Logic, the six-time Grammy-winner made himself sound like an orchestra and choir, blending R&B, pop, jazz and everything-in-between while working with some of the biggest acts in music. With the latest installment, "Djesse Vol. 4," Collier collaborates with such artists as Brandi Carlile, Camilo, Chris Martin and John Legend. Correspondent Conor Knighton talks with Collier about the "emotional, chemical reaction" that comes from his musical alchemy.

You can stream Jacob Collier's album "Djesse Vol. 4" by clicking on the embed below (Free Spotify registration required to hear the tracks in full):

For more info:

"Djesse Vol. 4" by Jacob Collier (Interscope/Geffen/A&M) available March 1jacobcollier.com/Follow Jacob Collier on YouTube and Spotify

NATURE: Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina (Extended Video)
We leave you this Sunday in mist along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. Videographer: Scot Miller.
   

WEB EXCLUSIVES:

CALENDAR: Leap Day Babies: A birthday every four years (Video)
The chances of being born on February 29, Leap Day, is 1 in 1,461, which means for the 4.8 million "leaplings" around the world who were born on Leap Day, their actual birthday only comes around once every four years. "Sunday Morning" producer Roman Feeser talks with some leaplings who discuss the challenges and humor of marking a quadrennial birthday.

GALLERY: Notable deaths in 2024
A look back at the esteemed personalities who've left us this year, who'd touched us with their innovation, creativity and humanity.

The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison.

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The Nobel laureates behind mRNA COVID vaccines

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas: "We were not informed" about prior arrests of Georgia suspect

Exploring Mark Rothko's paintings on paper