07/05/2026: Elemental Crisis, The Knowledge, Banana Ball

In what might be the ultimate front of the U.S. trade war with China, correspondent Jon Wertheim reports from the only active rare earth mine in the U.S., deep in the Mojave Desert near the California-Nevada border. Today, China holds a near-monopoly over the strategic metals that are key components in smartphones, robotics and EVs, but also fighter jets, drones and radar technology. Wertheim looks at the private company, now partly owned by the federal government, that is ramping up rare earth mining, processing and magnet-making in response to China’s threats to cut off rare earths. Graham Messick is the producer.

As tech companies promise that AI-powered autonomous vehicles will transform transportation, correspondent Anderson Cooper takes a ride down the ancient roads and medieval alleyways of London in the iconic black cab. London’s black cab industry still relies on a 161-year-old test called “the Knowledge,” requiring prospective cabbies to memorize thousands of London's landmarks and the shortest routes between them all. Cooper reports on this legacy institution and why London cab drivers aren’t about to hand over their keys to big tech. Katie Brennan is the producer.

Something unusual is going on in Major League Baseball stadiums across the country, and it isn’t traditional baseball. Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports from Savannah, Ga., on the dancing, back-flipping, lip-syncing almost-baseball team, the Savannah Bananas. They’ve created a new twist on the sport, which they call Banana Ball. Among its rules: a two-hour time limit; no bunting, walks or mound visits; and if a fan catches a foul ball, it’s an out. Stahl meets Banana Ball’s unorthodox, yellow-clad founder, Jesse Cole, and discovers the electric, circus-meets-sporting-event atmosphere that is selling out ballparks. Shari Finkelstein and Collette Richards are the producers.