60 Minutes

THE PROMISE – Twenty-three years later, over a thousand families are still waiting for news of loved ones lost in the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11. Correspondent Scott Pelley looks at how efforts to search for and identify their remains have never stopped, driven by the promise made by the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. Pelley visits their laboratory, which is using new advancements in DNA research and breakthrough techniques to provide answers for families holding on to hope. This is a double-length segment. Nicole Young is the producer.

AUSSIEWOOD –Correspondent Jon Wertheim reports on a phenomenon that has long captured Hollywood: the outsized presence of Australians earning top billings and awards on the American silver screen – in front of and behind the camera. Wertheim interviews Aussie actress Sarah Snook and filmmaker Baz Luhrmann about the country's renowned training grounds for the dramatic arts, their pathways to international theater, film and television and the Australian mindset on stardom. Jacqueline Williams is the producer.

BHUTAN –Correspondent Lesley Stahl travels to the remote, Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, a tiny country that has fiercely protected its unique culture, declaring that within its borders, Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product. But today, the country is facing a crisis – 9% of its population has left Bhutan for higher-paying jobs abroad, so the government has launched a high-stakes plan to help the economy and lure young Bhutanese back by developing an entirely new city from scratch – what the king is calling a "mindfulness" city. This is a double-length segment. Shari Finkelstein is the producer.

DISRUPTOR U. – As contempt for cancel culture and self-censorship on college campuses continues to drive a political divide across the country, correspondent Jon Wertheim reports on a new startup university, the University of Austin, in Austin, Texas. The school has been labeled by some as an "anti-woke university" and Wertheim speaks to the founders, students and advisors about how they believe they're disrupting modern academia by fostering debate and ideological openness in their classrooms. Denise Schrier Cetta is the producer. 

HUMANS IN THE LOOP – As chatbots continue to evolve, Lesley Stahl reports from Nairobi, Kenya, on the growing market of "humans in the loop" – workers around the world who help train AI for big American tech companies. Stahl speaks with digital workers who have spent hours in front of screens teaching and improving AI, but complain of poor working conditions, low pay and undertreated psychological trauma. Shachar Bar-On and Jinsol Jung are the producers.    

LOWRIDERS OF NEW MEXICO – Correspondent Bill Whitaker cruises through Espanola, N.M., a town that's a hub of lowrider culture: vintage American automobiles with vibrant paint jobs and street-scraping suspensions. He meets a community of "cruisers" who are turning their hobby's bad-boy reputation on its head, paving a new route as activists and community servants, and claiming a place as custodians of Hispanic culture and champions of fine art. Rome Hartman is the producer.

NOTRE DAME – Next Sunday, December 8, the arched doors of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris will open to the public for the first time since April 2019, when a devastating fire nearly destroyed the great Gothic church. What will they see? Correspondent Bill Whitaker has a first look inside a modern miracle of repair and restoration by workers and artisans who made possible French President Emmanuel Macron's impossible-sounding pledge to complete the rebirth in five years. As Macron tells Whitaker, "The decision to rebuild Notre Dame was…about our capacity to save, restore, sometimes reinvent what we are by preserving where we come from." 

SMITH ISLAND – Located in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay and only accessible by boat, Smith Island, Maryland is a place where time stands still, and its residents speak a unique dialect. Rising sea levels and erosion are changing the landscape and placing residents at risk of becoming some of the country's first climate refugees. Correspondent Jon Wertheim meets these locals to hear how climate change threatens their way of life - and the island itself - but where their perseverance and  pride are inspiring a new generation of islanders. 

KATE WINSLET – Correspondent Cecilia Vega travels to the UK for an intimate portrait of actor Kate Winslet, Hollywood's most non-Hollywood A-Lister, and discusses her transformative journey to starring in and producing her latest film, "Lee." Winslet, who has been a vocal advocate against the insults and inequalities facing women in the film industry, relies on this experience for her current role, portraying American photographer Lee Miller, who worked for Vogue as one of the few female war correspondents on the frontline of WWII. As Vega discovers, Winslet and Miller share a resilience and see the world through a similar lens, making her connection more than just a role.

WELCOME TO THE WEDDING – After the dramatic exit of the United States military from Afghanistan in 2021 left the country under Taliban control, U.S. allies found themselves in danger. Correspondent Jon Wertheim reports on the unimaginable story of nearly 400 Afghans who were evacuated under the guise of a wedding party. Wertheim reveals the treacherous, high stakes rescue operation organized by American citizens and led by former Army intelligence officer Jason Kander that concealed men, women and children in an Afghan wedding palace.