lower if a key government agency kept closer watch? that is a question jim axelrod will be examining in our sunday morning cover story. >> reporter: seven years ago cardiologist robert houser lost a patient, joshua, because joshua's implanted heart device was defective. that led dr. houser to the f.d.a. where he uncovered problems. he's been battling to fix them ever since. did you think you'd still be talking about this in 2012? >> no, it's so obvious. >> reporter: the troubling record of the f.d.a.'s oversight of medical devices. later on sunday morning. >> reporter: patti smith first made her name in the rock music world four decades ago. in the years since she's crossed paths with many of the leading pop culture figures of our time. this morning she talks about it all with our anthony mason. ♪ >> reporter: patti smith wanted to be a poet and an artist. but she became one of the most influential performers of the rock era. >> there was some kind of presumptive bravado that told me that i could do this. >> reporter: patti smith on life, love, and art. later this sunday morning. >> isn't it wonderful when some things don't change? >> osgood: the lucky one is a new film that stars the young, talented actor zac efron in a very different sort of role than we've seen him in before. with tracy smith this morning, we'll pay him a visit. ♪ break right, break left >> reporter: disney's high school musical turned zac efron into a star. and scores of girls... but please don't call him a heart throb. what do you think of that word? >> i hate it. it follows you around. you don't deserve it. >> reporter: zac efron, reluctant teen idol now serious actor ahead on sunday morning. >> osgood: today, as we all know, is april fool's day, a day for taking everything we hear with a grain of salt. our mo rocca has a whole shaker full. >> reporter: on the internet, every day is april fool's day. >> i feel like we're more gullible than ever sometimes. at other times i feel like we're just as gullible as we've always been. >> reporter: later on sunday morning, did that actually happen? >> osgood: we'll also put art to the april fool's day test. look at two very different paths to nuclear fusion. cast a skeptical eye on 3-d movies and more. but first here are the headlines for this sunday morning the first of april, 2012. we begin in myanmar, a nation once called burma where pro democracy leader looks set to take a seat in parliament. it is is only the third election there in half a century. here at home the winners many of us are thinking about are the winners of the largest in history mega millions lottery. we still don't know who they are. but we know one thing. they're a lot richer than they were yesterday. >> reporter: in the end, it was a three-way split for the biggest lottery jackpot in u.s. history. >> show me the money, baby! >> reporter: the final tally swelling to $656 million. the lucky ticket holders who have yet to come forward struck it rich in northeast kansas, red bud, illinois, and baltimore county, maryland. steven mar tino, director of the maryland lottery. >> our advice to the player is to safeguard the ticket. sign the back of it. >> reporter: the odds of winning, one in 176 million. your chances of being elected president were better. still, the mega millions frenzy seemed to grip almost everyone. >> i got the fever. >> reporter: hitting frequent gamblers against lotto rookies who just couldn't resist. >> you name it. we got a boat, a plane, a ferrari. >> reporter: as the big dreams and long lines disappear, somewhere in the crowd a lucky few will never be the same. for sunday morning, this is whit johnson in washington. >> osgood: the coast guard has launched a rescue operation after a yacht was swamped by a wave during a race off san francisco. two sailors aboard the ship were hurt. today is palm sunday, marking the start of holy week. in jerusalem catholic priests carrying palm fronds celebrated mass at the church of the holy spepal kerr. landmarks the world over dimmed their lights last night as part of an annual global effort to call attention to climate change. college basketball's final four hit the hardwood in new orleans last night. in the kansas-ohio state match-up, kansas trailed by as many as 13 points before staging a second-half comeback beating the stunned buckeyes 64-62. earlier, kentucky's anthony davis scored 18 points and had 14 rebounds to lead the wild cats to a 69-61 win over cross- state rifle louisville. kentucky will meet kansas tomorrow night in the national championship game right here on cbs. the national weather service is concerned that people still don't pay enough attention to storm warnings. so in tests that begin tomorrow it is changing the language it uses. it will now use terms like "unsur... unsurvivable, mass devastation and abandon all mobile homes. that ought to get some attention. no need for any of that in today's forecast. it still feels like march in the northeast, rainy and cool. but april has brought summer like temperatures to much of the country. a mostly warm, mostly wet week lies ahead. next, a matter of trust. and,,,, [ female announcer ] here in california, our schools need help. the largest class size in the nation. 47th out of 50 in per-student funding. but right now, we can make history with a ballot measure to send every k-through-12 dollar straight to our schools. to every school and every child. not to sacramento. it's the only initiative that can say all that. check out our online calculator and find out how your school would benefit. visit ourchildrenourfuture2012.com today. >> osgood: statistically fewer thaun one percent of all medical devices fail their patients, far fewer, in fact. small comfort if one of those very rare failures strikes you or me or someone we love. our cover story is reported now by jim axelrod. >> reporter: how often do you think of joshua? >> every day. >> reporter: is his memory what motivates what you're doing? >> a lot of it. >> reporter: joshua was 21 when he died search years ago of a heart attack. robert houser is not a relative. he was joshua's cardiologist. why is joshua the case that got you? >> well, first of all, he was young. it shouldn't have happened. it just shouldn't have happened. >> reporter: the story of what happened to joshua begins with the discovery as a teen that he had inherited a heart condition from his father, lee. >> he came home from band and his saxophone was dented in a little bit in a few spots. he said, i just passed out and fell forward. we knew something had to be done. >> reporter: josh's parents took him to see dr. houser at abbott northwestern hospital's minneapolis heart institute. >> houser decided to implant an i.c.d.into josh's chest. >> when the heart becomes very kay on theic, it shocks the heart back to normal. >> reporter: although lee and his older son jacob both had similar heart conditions, neither had shown signs of disease. only joshua had an i.c.d.implanted. >> when he was a kid, you know, he was a little reluctant to do it but he knew it was for the best. >> reporter: three years of routine tests and check-ups went by uneventually. in march of 2005, joshua took a biking trip in utah with his girlfriend. >> his girlfriend saw him fall off his bike and collapse. c.p.r.was attempted but he could not be resuscitated. >> reporter: he died. >> he died. >> i ended up talking to the county coroner. and he said, i got some news that i want to tell you. he said, josh had an i.c.d.implanted. i said, yes. he said it was faulty. >> reporter: instead of shocking josh's heart back into rhythm, the device had shorted out. josh's doctors asked lee for permission to remove josh's heart and examine it. >> i'll tell you, it was a very, very hard thing for me to do. i wanted my son whole. but i agreed to do it and they brought it back to minneapolis and they autopsyed just the heart itself. they found out that it was a very shockable heart. he could have been brought back to life had the device worked. >> reporter: had the device worked, crushing words to dr. houser and intense motivation as well. how could the device have not worked? >> i got into the f.d.a. database. my search uncovered a number of problems. >> reporter: dr. houser found the i.c.d.s' manufacturer had known the defibrillator was faulty since 2002. >> we eventually met with the company in may of 2005. this would be three months after joshua's death. we told them that they were obligated to inform patients and physicians of the problem. >> reporter: what did they say to you? >> they declined to do so. they stated that they were afraid physicians would overreact and take these devices out unnecessarily. because they believe that the likelihood of failure was very low. >> reporter: so, how many people are walking around with this faulty defibrillator? >> tens of thousands. >> reporter: ten of thousands. >> yes. >> reporter: what did you do? >> we went to the "new york times". we told our story. that defibrillator was recalled. >> reporter: the company was taken over by boston scientific which declined to comment, saying it was not interested in participating in our report. but that's not the end of the story. dr. houser kept digging. he says he found problems at the f.d.a., the agency charged with approving and overseeing medical devices. he believes both the approval process and the follow-up once devices hit the market are badly flawed. in this whole episode where was the f.d.a. the whole time? >> i don't know. the f.d.a. should have been on top of this because guidant had filed a report with the f.d.a. in august of 2004 laying out the details of the problem with this device. >> the data we have from our review of recall showed that f.d.a. had approximately 26 reports of serious adverse events related to this type of device over a three-year period before the device was recalled. >> reporter: marcia cross is health care director at the government accountability office, the federal government's watchdog agency. she's in charge of f.d.a. medical product oversight and says she knows the f.d.a. had the reports but can't say if anyone read them. when you say three years, 26 reports of adverse events and still no recall and then this kid dies? >> it was, i think, the report in the press of this patient that was the precipitating factor for the recall. >> reporter: well, forgive me. but is that what it takes? >> it shouldn't be what it takes. that's the concern that we have about their use of the information that they receive. that is the kind of concern that we have. >> reporter: cross says the non-partisan g.a.o.put the f.d.a.'s oversight of medical products on its list of government areas at high risk for mismanagement and in need of broad reform. but she says the problems go back much further. >> the responsibility for reviewing medical devices was first given to the f.d.a. in 1976. the expectation was that f.d.a. was going to put out regulations for each type of medical device. by 1990, f.d.a. still had not put out regulations for these high-risk medical devices, over 100 different types. >> reporter: in fact, according to cross 22 types of important and potentially life- saving medical devices from automated external defibrillators to electro convulsive therapy devices remain without proper regulations. and here we are 22 years later and the appropriate regulations have not been developed? >> that's correct. >> reporter: among these devices, metal-on-metal artificial hips which have been the subject of a recent recall. tiny metal shards can break off releaseing toxins into the bloodstream. it's believed some 500,000 patients could be affected. the metal-on-metal hip was allowed to be grandfathered in on the approval of a similar device already on the market. this, says dr. houser, is a faster and cheaper method to get a product approved. and it's a fundamental and not uncommon problem. >> companies are allowed to supplement a new device on a previous approval without conducting any human safety tests. for example, there was a defibrillator that functioned very well. the manufacturer decided that they wanted to make a smaller version so they shrunk it up. they used the same materials basically, same design, basically. very quickly it became the most popular lead ever. after two years of being on the market, it started to break. they may look the same from a material standpoint, from a design standpoint, but they perform vastly differently. >> reporter: we asked to speak with the f.d.a. directly about all of this. we made repeated requests for an on-camera interview. while the agencies weighed its response we spoke with some of its defenders. >> the f.d.a., you can always try and do better but i think the f.d.a. basically does a very, very sound job. >> reporter: this man is a senior executive vice president at a medical device trade group. >> some of the critics, you know, i think want a zero risk system where nothing is ever approved unless it's shown that it can never do anybody any harm. if you do that, you also have no medical progress. that's not a good thing for the american people. >> reporter: in fact, his group thinks the approval process is too slow. >> industry is concerned about the f.d.a. in the last few years is that, well, they haven't changeded the standards for review. reviews have become much slower and more inconsistent. >> reporter: but dr. houser cautions that speeding up an already ineffective approval process could be dangerous because there's also inadequate follow-up after a device hits the market. something called post market surveillance. >> in the united states, there is no definite requirement for post market surveillance for defibrillators and heart valves, artificial hearts and so forth. >> reporter: but there's no requirement? >> there's no absolute requirement. in other words, you wait for problems to be reported to you rather than actively seeking out problems. there's a big difference. >> reporter: dr. houser says active reporting could have saved joshua. remember, the g.a.o.says the f.d.a. received 26 reports during the three years before joshua's death. >> i suspect nobody read the report. >> reporter: the f.d.a. has got to know there's a problem here. >> they do. congress knows they have a problem. >> reporter: when you say there can be tens of thousands of people walking around with faulty products? i mean, really? tens of thousands? >> yes. >> reporter: it doesn't have to be in your field. >> no. >> reporter: last year the institute of medicine an independent advisory group issued a report stating that the f.d.a.'s current regulatory framework for most devices is so flawed it should be thrown out and replaced with a new system that, quote, provides a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness. even though in the last couple of years recalls of device models with problems that could cause serious injury or have doubled, in his view the numbers are still small. >> the american people should be very confident that the f.d.a. and the industry working together have an exemplary safety record. there are 50,000 different models of devices on the market right now. about 20 of those on average, they find serious problems. that's less than 2 tenths of one percent. >> why did i have to be the one percent? not wishing it on anybody else. but why does it have to be any? there shouldn't be any. there can't be. when it's that critical of a piece, there can't be that kind of problem with it. >> reporter: when we finally heard back from the f.d.a., the agency refused our request for an on-camera interview, providing us instead with a lengthy statement which reads in part, the f.d.a. weighs the benefits and risks of every medical device we review. we must balance risk with the careful evaluation of patient benefit. this helps promote public health. today, lee worries for his other son jacob who inherited the same heart condition as joshua and has a defibrillator implanted inside him. >> i mean, i feel confident that it will save me if and when i ever do need it. they have assured me that this device is a life-saving device. i just put my trust in what the doctors say. >> reporter: but this isn't jake's original device. as the luck of the one percent would have it, a part on jake's defibrillator was faulty. remember those smaller leads dr. houser described? jake was among the 268,000 patients who received that shrunken up version. >> there was a recall on some of the leads that go from the defibrillator to the heart. the leads were cracking and shorting. and then the defibrillator couldn't deliver a charge if it needed to. >> reporter: after having that device inside him for nearly three years, it was replaced before jake was harmed. but 13 others died. lee says that jake just had better luck than joshua. and that is not nearly good enough. >> somebody else there needs to be looking out for us. we're not doctors. we're not scientists. here it is six, seven years later. you still see that stuff is getting through. stuff is being recalled. it's all stuff that the f.d.a. should be looking at. they should be paying a little bit more closer attention. >> chewing gum is good for you. now which brand is the best to chew? >> osgood: next, something to chew on. ♪ double your pleasure, double your fun ♪ sometimes life can be well, a little uncomfortable. but when it's hard or hurts to go to the bathroom, there's dulcolax stool softener. dulcolax stool softener doesn't make you go, it just makes it easier to go. dulcolax stool softener. make yourself comfortable. no. you quit? 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[ junior ] ...and they've helped build my business. ♪ double your pleasure, double your fun ♪ ♪ with double good, double good, double mint gum ♪ >> osgood: now a page from our sunday morning almanac. april 1, 1981, 121 years ago today. a no nonsense birthday for an iconic american brand. for it was on that day in chicago that william wrigley jr. founded the company that bears his name. he started out making soap and baking powder, but he switched to the manufacture of chewing gum. it soon became his principal business. in 1921 he opened his new headquarters, a wedding cake sky scraper of a building in a prime spot on michigan avenue. ♪ take me out to the ballgame ♪ > that same year wrigley bought majority control of the chicago cubs. five years later he gamed the ballpark wrigley field. william wrigley jr. died in 1932. though the cubs of wrigley field were losers decade after decade, wrigley's chewing gum brands were nothing less than winners and a frequent sight on tv. ♪ kiss a little longer ♪ sing a little longer ♪ laugh a little longer ♪ longer with bed red >> osgood: the passage of time has brought changes to wrigley. the company sold the cubs in 1981. >> the chicago tribune paid $20 million for what may be the world's worst baseball team. >> osgood: and in 2008 the entire wrigley company was purchased by mars, the candy maker. but to many, wrigley brands are still sold. the wrigley building still stands tall as ever. and the cubs still play at their beloved and ivy-covered wrigley field where at this thursday's home opener hope will once again spring eternal. a lot of gum will be nervously chewed. ahead, the art of the fake. i'm the first licensed indycar driver with diabetes to finish the indy 500. i live in the fast lane. i need on-the-go insulin delivery. that's why i use novolog® flexpen®. flexpen® is prefilled with my fast-acting insulin. i dial my exact dose. inject by pressing a button. flexpen® is insulin delivery my way. novolog® is a fast-acting 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coastal landscape. a wistful young lady. april fool's. not one of those paintings is what it appeared to be. they are instead because of faux-real, an exhibit of more than 3 dozen forgeries opening today april 1 appropriately enough at the university of cincinatti. they're all the work of mark landis of mississippi who has been donating paintings to small institutions for years. the co-curator of the exhibit discovered the first landis portrait while serving at the oklahoma city museum of art in 2008. >> i was outraged. i felt duped. and i felt like i needed to let as many people know about this character as i could. >> osgood: he spread the alarm all right. he found that landis had offered over 100 works to at least 50 institutions in 20 states over 30 years. as matthew demonstrated for us, the landis forgery technique is be trayed under ultraviolent light. those white areas reveal the spots landis failed to color in sufficiently. >> i don't believe he is a bad guy. he hasn't done anything criminal other than wasting people's time. i believe that he truly feels what he is doing is honoring his parents and placing pretty pictures into institutions. >> osgood: for any other museum that might be offered a pretty picture, matthew has three words of advice. exercise due diligence. >> osgood: ahead, zac efron. a long way from high school. and later,. >> do you want to.... >> osgood: it is rocket science.,,,,,,,,,,,, ♪ without love life is rock'n'roll without its drummer ♪ >> it's sunday morning a cbs and ear again is charles osgood. >> osgood: that's zac efron in the movie hair spray. many of us may know him as the heart throb the high school musical and now in a film called the lucky one he's proving that there really is life after high school. tracy smith has our sunday profile. ♪ here and now it's time for celebration ♪ > if facebook has you thinking you'll never shake off high school, consider zac efron, the singing, dancing, teen heart throb, now a grown man of 24. back in 2006, zac starred in what may be the most popular made-for-tv movie ever. airing again and again on the disney channel, high school musical has been seen by an estimated 290 million viewers worldwide. it all makes zac efron most likely to succeed and a man with a past albeit a sunny one. he says that can be a challenge for a budding acting career. were you at all and apprehensive about playing a marine. >> 100%. i was incredibly nervous. >> it was in the morning after a night raid. >> reporter: in his latest film "the lucky one" out april 20, zac plays sergeant logan thibault, a marine on his third tour in iraq. >> i knew it would be a stretch. i knew it was going to be a challenge. >> reporter: to prepare for that challenge, efron trained at a sort of private boot camp outside of los angeles. >> this is where i sort of lived a day in a life of what it was like to be out there as a marine. what it's like to carry around an 80-pound flak jacket, weapons and helmet. >> reporter: and how to disarm someone carrying a gun. >> there you go. that's it. he's disarmed. then you fall down. >> reporter: in the movie based on a novel by nicholas sparks, curiosity about a stray photo of a woman veers zac's character out of danger. >> the act of finding the picture saves his life. he makes it his mission on to track her down and thank her for saving his life. >> reporter: one of the themes of the movie is that the smallest thing can change your life. has that happened to zac efron? >> without a doubt. i feel like half the reason i'm here is being in the right place at the right time. >> reporter: born and raised on the central california coast by parents who worked at a power plant, zac had a childhood he called pretty standard. >> my dad kept us pretty driven. my mom kept us very loved. >> reporter: did your parents see your talent before you did? >> i think so. i could sing any song, sort of memorize lyrics. it sounds like nothing special now. but, you know, to my dad who is not very musical guy he thought it was pretty outstanding. he decided to try and help me into dance classes and help me into piano. >> reporter: his piano teacher was the director of a local theater. it at age 12, zac landed part in gypsy. >> stepping into the world of theater, i knew i found something special. i felt engaged. i was nervous every single day i was there stepping outside of my comfort zone. >> reporter: and you liked that? >> yeah, oh, man, it was a rush. my parents couldn't be there. >> reporter: freedom. >> freedom. total freedom. i absolutely loved it. >> reporter: he loved it so much he got an agent. >> one thing led to another. i was auditioning for little bitty parts on tv. >> what's happening? >> reporter: his mom drove him to every casting call. three hours each way. and slowly he started landing gigs. as a gunshot victim on e.r. >> bobby? aren't you supposed to be practicing for your dance recital. >> reporter: and as a precocious child on the sci-fi series fire fly. the paycheck for that role was an "eyeopener". >> i'll never forget my dad on the car ride home saying, you know, zac, maybe you should keep doing this. i have to be honest with you, your college funds aren't exactly in line. what? >> reporter: zac was about to head off to college when he landed a part that would keep him in high school on television at least for another three years. >> sometimes swopt to be the basketball guy. i want to be a guy. you know? >> reporter: he play troy bolton, basketball star and theater geek in what would become a three-movie high school musical tweens' juggernaut. what did you expect? >> absolutely nothing. we expected to have fun. >> reporter: it was a movie so important, zac and his co-star did more blushing than kissing. it was she who told him they had a hit. >> vanessa called me and she said, our album is number one. i mean like the computer program for music? like, yeah, you have to log on. i pulled up my laptop. i went and looked. our high school musical album was number one. >> reporter: what went through your head? >> what the...? is what went through my head. it's crazy. >> reporter: the movie sound track was the best-selling album of 2006 but for efron its success was marred by the fact that he didn't actually sing in the movie. another guy's voice had been dubbed in. >> i think i was in the place where they call it puberty. you know, i definitely didn't sound my best. >> reporter: was your voice changing? >> it was, yes. a lot of me was changing. >> reporter: now you're making me blush. >> yes. >> reporter: he fought to sing in the second film and won. its premiere was the most watched basic cable telecast in history. ♪ bet on it > the third movie released theatrically brought in $80 million worldwide in its first three days. success like that brings lots of fans. for zac efron often of the screaming variety. for those of us who will never be a heart throb, just explain what that's like. >> i can't explain to you what it's like to be a heart throb. i don't think i am a heart throb. >> reporter: what do you think of that word? >> i hate it. it follows you around and you don't deserve it. like why? >> reporter: how do you see yourself? >> just me. i'm just zac. >> reporter: just zac began to look for work outside disney high. but found that wholesome didn't go over so well with the director of hair spray. >> i remember i went in for that audition. adam goes, stop (beep) smiling. i'm like, okay. i'm going to try. i couldn't do it. ♪ once i was a selfish fool who never understood ♪ ♪ never looked inside myself but on the outside i looked good ♪ > with some work he landed the part as the too cool linc larkin. >> i'm linc. >> reporter: in 2009 he made a big decision backing out of yet another musical foot loose to try drama instead. >> not necessarily do the musical, not necessarily do what everyone says is a heart throb. >> how do i look? >> the girl is going to give me one blinding review. >> reporter: it was a hit with the critics. his next film 2010's charlie saint cloud not so much. >> i can't lose you. >> i've known guys like you my whole life. take a gun and a badge and a name make you something. >> reporter: the lucky one is only his second grown-up role with love scenes that go well beyond a first kiss. >> it's a bit more grounded in reality. we also don't.... >> reporter: for zac efron it's been a lucky run. and now he's willing to gamble his teen idoldom for a shot at something bigger. >> at the end of the day the actors that i respect and the ones that live on today are the ones that always took the hard road. >> 5, 4, 3,.... >> osgood: coming up, countdown to fusion. we've got over 100 years worth. is it safe to get it? but what, so we should go broke with imports? look, i'm just saying. well, energy creates jobs. [announcer:] at conocophillips, we're helping power america's economy with cleaner, affordable natural gas. more jobs, less emissions. a good answer for everyone. we gotta be careful. it's cleaner. it's affordable. look, if it's safe, i'm there. [announcer:] conocophillips. battle speech right? may i? capital one is issuing a venture double miles challenge. show us how much you spent last year and we'll give you 2 miles for every dollar spent on your travel reward card. up to 100,000 miles! hawaii, here we come. claim your miles at capitalone.com today! what's in your wallet? can you play games on that? not on the runway. no. >> osgood: a huge and hugely expensive alternative energy project is going full speed ahead in california. whether it's a sure shot or a dead end depends on who is telling you about it. our david pogue will be telling us about this on wednesday night on nova which airs on pbs. he gave us a sneak peek. >> reporter: imagine the biggest laser beam on earth. now imagine 192 of them. now emergency all those lasers focused on a tiny capsule no bigger than a bb. man it's star trek and star wars and battle star... this isn't a movie set but one of the most ambitious science experiments in history. it's called the national ignition facility or nif, part of lawrence liver more national laboratory in california. inside that little capsule is a bead of frozen hydrogen. the lasers blast the hydrogen atoms so hard they merge, a reaction that releases enormous amounts of energy. it's called fusion. stars do it all the time. but at nif, they're trying to that reaction here on earth to generate clean, limitless power. >> there are no global warming gases. there are no proliferation risks associated with this. you wouldn't have to go to the mideast or wherever to get our fuel that drives our civilization. >> reporter: ed moses is the director of nif. you're saying we're a year away from this? >> we're a year away from scientific feasibility of this. proving that it could work we're approximately a decade away of proving it on a commercial scale. >> reporter: it invited sunday morning into the control room to watch an actual laser shot, the first time they've ever let tv cameras inside. >> the countdown started at t minus 5 seconds. >> reporter: a nif shot is modeled on a nasa launch. the shot director polls his station. there's a countdown. >> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. >> reporter: and then... nothing. no explosion. no roar. all the action takes place behind five-foot concrete doors and in the computers. >> how does that shot go? >> it went very well. >> reporter: well, maybe. but three years after construction was completed, nif still hasn't achieved the promise of its own middle name: ignition. that's the magical moments when they get more energy out of a laser shot than they put in. and if nif does obtain admission, laser fusion shill won't be able to power a city until a plant can fire hundreds of shots a minute. >> what's so nice about the scaling from this to an energy program is that you just have to do it more often. we're very confident that could happen. >> reporter: not everyone is is so confident. >> we'll see pigs fly before we see nif work. >> reporter: this woman runs a california watchdog organization called tri-valley cares. but it should be called tri- valley doesn't care for nif. she can't stand the cost. >> when you add the construction-related research and development money, u.s. tax payers have already invested more than $7 billion in the national ignition facility. >> reporter: she hates that it uses radioactive material. >> the target is a 50-50 mix of due tear yum which is heavy hydrogen and tritium which is radioactive hydrogen so there will be a lot of emissions. >> reporter: and moses says that's nonsense. >> there is no danger to the public whatsoever. we all work here. if we thought it was dangerous, we certainly wouldn't be here. >> reporter: she hates that it keeps missing deadlines. >> the national ignition facility promised ignition in 2010, 2010 has passed and it did not happen. >> the wright brothers had they flown their plane a week later. >> reporter: above all, kelly is convinced that laser fusion just won't work. >> ignition is highly unlikely. nothing is impossible. they're trying to live in that little tiny region between highly unlikely and impossible. >> reporter: not surprisingly, ed moses disagrees. >> are we breaking any rules of physics? no. are we breaking any of the laws of thermo die napics, thinking like that? we are not. otherwise we wouldn't do it. >> reporter: in the battle against the skeptics, nif just won an important ground. a few weeks ago one of nif's test shots blasted the capsule with a record-breaking 1.9 megajoules and generated a thousand times more power than there is in the entire united states electrical grid. they say that's enough power to trigger ignition in a shot later this year. >> because if you think about a world free of the need of carbon, free of the need of geo politics and energy demands and one that also could change the whole view of pollution and also the whole view of global climate, what more could you ask for? that's what i'm thinking about all the time. >> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. shot. >> osgood: next, tail lorl,,,,,, the multibillion dollar project that david pogue just showed us is one approach to nuclear fusion. the smaller scale effort steve hartman has found in reno nevada is another. >> it's avoiding me. >> reporter: you know how most high school boys only seem to think about one thing? well, this kid is just like that. >> i found a hot one. >> reporter: it's just a different thing. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: 17-year-old taylor wilson is into radioactive rocks. >> when i hold something that's radioactive it's kind of an indescribable feeling. it's kind of like when i'm with my girlfriend. >> reporter: a little scary. a teenager handling radiation with his shoes untied. but the levels are safe. there's really never been any reason for concern. until he decided to build his own reactor. >> i was going to produce nuclear fusion. >> reporter: what would you think you could do this? >> i think i can do things. there's nothing that's impossible to me. you can ask my parents. >> he's just not wired like we are. >> reporter: taylor's dad ken is a coca-cola bottle, tiffany a stay at home mom. they say taylor started reading about nuclear physics in fifth grade. in sixth grade he gave an hour- long science fair presentation on the subject. it soared over everyone. >> i have no clue what he's talking about. >> reporter: yet they still let him try and build a nuclear reactor in their garage. it sounds like we're not good parents. >> it kind of does. >> pretty much convinced us he knows what he's doing. >> reporter: he eventually convinced the university of nevada reno physics department, too. they let taylor move his project into their basement. it was here at the age of 14 that taylor wilson became the youngest person on earth to create fusion. >> if you want to make a story, you want to crank this thing up. >> reporter: he unlocked the secret that drives the sun before he could drive. bill was his advisor. >> how is it possible for a kid to be able to envision this? >> mozart was five when he wrote.... >> reporter: twinkle twinkle little star. this is making a star. >> three years later he's now a senior at the nearby davidson academy for profoundly gifted students. obviously taylor could go to any college he wants. would he get anything out of even the graduate level nuclear physics class especially since he taught that class last semester? that's why he may go straight to pursuing his next modest goal of keeping us all safe. taylor recently invented a new way to scan shipping containers for nuclear materiale. >> incredibly cheap. because it's incredibly cheap it can be deployed all over the u.s. and all over the world creating first, second and third lines of defense all over. >> reporter: that's in addition to the cancer cure he's working on and god knows what else. >> i have hundreds of ideas. i have too many ideas for a lifetime. >> reporter: fortunately, he's got a really good head start. >> osgood: next, a farewell. ,,,,,,,,,,,, >> osgood: it happened this week. the loss of a man who boosted the bang owe to the top rank of instruments. earl scruggs died in nashville wednesdayality... wednesday at the age of 88. born no north carolina he played the bang owe from early childhood. one thing by perfecting his own three finger picking style. in his hands the bang owe was transformed. he reported his signature song foggy mountain breakdown in 1949. a tune that won a whole new audience 18 years later when it was featured in the movie bonnie and clyde. by then, earl scruggs and lester flat have achieved recognition on tv with the ballad of jed clampett ♪ come and listen to my story about a man named jed ♪ >> osgood: the theme song of the beverly hill billys here on cbs. in 1969, earl scruggs performed an anti-war demonstration in washington. >> i'm disgusted and in sorrow about the boys we've lost over there. >> osgood: dedicating followy mountain breakdown to the soldiers lost in vietnam. the song was included in the national recording registry at the library of congress in 2004. the next year scruggs performed it on the late show with david letterman. accompanied by steve martin and friends. earl scruggs won four grammys and a lifetime achievement award in 2008. ♪ the time for me won't be so long ♪ >> osgood: funeral services are scheduled for later today in nashville, of course. ♪ some day we'll meet again, sweetheart ♪ >> i love this room. >> osgood: ahead.... >> it's just the same. isn't it wonderful when some things don't change? >> osgood: a conversation with singer/songwriter patti smith. >> i could even scratch the itch. >> osgood: later a date with mo rocca. no fooling. 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[ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in. explorer card. ♪ >> it's sunday morning on cbs. and here again is charles osgood. >> osgood: "because the night" was a huge hit for patti smith back in 1978. because of her music and her recent best-selling book patti smith today is as much in the spotlight as ever. anthony mason tracked her down for some questions and answers. >> reporter: you never expected to be a rock star. >> no. >> reporter: or aspired to be one. >> no, no, no. i also was brought up at a time where essentially rock stars were male. >> reporter: but when patti smith took the stage of new york nightclubs in the early '70s with androgynous swagger, critic wrote that patti is on her way to becoming the wild muss standing of american rock. >> there was something in me that some kind of presumptive bravado that told me that i could do that. >> reporter: one of the most influential artists of the rock era, smith's fierce persona would open the door for madonna, even gaga. in 1975, her landmark debut album was an instant classic. rolling stone would rank it one of the best records of the 20th century. "because the night" co-written with bruce springsteen put other on the pop charts. smith, who turned 65 in december, only just had her greatest commercial success. not a song but a book. >> you have no idea what that book meant to me. >> thanks a lot. thank you. nice to meet you. thank you. >> reporter: that's pretty nice. a surprise best seller, her memoir "just kids" won the national book award in 2010. more than half a million copies are now in print. "just kids" is the story of smith's relationship with controversial artist robert mapplethorpe who died of aids in 1989. you promised him you would write it. >> yes. we both knew he was going to die so i just cut to the quick and said what can i do for you? he said, will you write our story. >> reporter: a new jersey girl, smith first met mapplethorpe when she moved to new york city. they became lovers, best friends, and each other's artistic muses. how would you describe your connection to him? >> mutual trust. robert and i just, when we met, we were both outsiders. kind of wall flowers. really shunned by our own community. we became each other's moral vest. we exchanged courages, if you will. >> they had great style, robert and patti. i was happy to be an observer. >> reporter: photographer judy lynn was their friend. when you look at these pictures now, what do you see? >> i see how pretty she was. i kind of feel that these were kind of image constructing photographs. that she would see how she looked and then move on. >> reporter: you moved here in 1969? >> the summer of '69, yes. >> reporter: smith and mapplethorpe moved in to the chelsea hotel, a well known refuge for artists. >> i can remember all these people coming through the door, janis joplin, the allman brothers, salvador dali. they just whisked through the lobby. >> reporter: the chelsea, smith says, was like a doll's house in the twilight zone. >> every door opened on to some wonder. >> reporter: they shared a one- room apartment. >> oh, my gosh. the same sink. >> reporter: which smith returned to with us for the first time in more than 15 years. >> i loved it. i thought it was so romantic. it seemed so, you know, european to me. it's just the same. even what you can see. i'm sorry. it's just i haven't been... (gasping) it's just the same. isn't it wonderful when some things don't change? it really makes me happy. it's so heart breaking though in a way. >> reporter: heart breaking. why? >> well, it's just i can so remember us in here. i mean the two of us went a lot in this room. but we also laughed a lot and created quite a bit. but i feel... ♪ i just don't know who what to do ♪ ♪ tonight >> reporter: mapplethorpe, whose photographs can now fetch millions of dollars at auctions, took the iconic cover shot for horse. the couple remained soul mates even as mapplethorpe began to realize he was gay. was letting go of the romantic part of the relationship difficult? >> it wasn't just difficult for me. sometimes i thought it was more difficult for robert. but we still held hands. we still kissed. we still, you know, sometimes if we were, you know, lonely slept side by side. >> reporter: after a run of influential albums in the late '70s, smith abruptly dropped out of the music scene. married fred smith, a guitarist formerly with the mc-5 and moved to detroit. >> a lot of people say, well, you didn't do anything in the '80s. i always think that's hilarious. you know, i was a housewife. what is harder than that? >> reporter: raised children. >> raised two children. >> reporter: son jackson and daughter jesse. but it was while in detroit that smith suffered a series of devastating losses. >> so it was robert and richard and fred and then my brother. >> reporter: first robert mapplethorpe died in 1989. the following year so did her piano player richard soul. in 1994, on mapplethorpe's birthday her husband died of heart failure. a month later, she lost her brother, todd, to a heart attack. >> i was so exhausted basically all i could do was get my kids ready for school. i couldn't do anything. i couldn't write. i couldn't draw. and i was miserable. >> reporter: then one day she picked up a polaroid camera and took a snapshot. >> it made me happy. and i thought, well, here is a way that i can create that doesn't take a lot of physical effort. then i just got hooked. >> reporter: smith refused to dwell in her grief. >> if we listen, the dead will speak to us. they will come to us. they will counsel us. they will fill us with their love. i know. believe me. i got a whole bunch of them. >> reporter: she got help from unexpected places. on the valentine's day after her husband's death, she was sitting alone after putting her two children to bed. >> i answered the phone. this voice said, "hello. you don't know me. but my name is michael." i knew who michael was. i loved his music. he told me that he knew we didn't know each other but he knew that i had lost... i'm sorry sdts that i had lost my love and that it was probably my first valentine's day without him. in a long time. and that he called to ask if he can be my valentine. that was how i met michael over the phone. through a beautiful gesture. and i hung up and i felt really happy. i did. i went to bed happy. ♪ people have the power ♪ people have the power ♪ people have the power > when you came back to new york in 1996 after your husband had died, what were you thinking? >> i just needed to make a living to take care of my kids. when he died, we had such catastrophic medical bills. truthfully i came back with nothing. ♪ all i see are... > she had not been on stage in 16 years. but bob dylan asked her to tour with him. and slowly she worked her way back into music. in 2007 she was inducted into the rock'n'roll hall of fame. ♪ happy birthday, dear patti ♪ >> reporter: on her birthday recently, the cake was delivered by daughter jesse. age, smith says, does not intimidate her. >> i'm going to be 65. they're trying to make me look like 35. i'm not interested in looking like 35. i'm proud of who i am. >> reporter: at 65, she can still get a whole room rockin'. smith has just finished recording her 14th album. it will be out in june, that same month an exhibition of her photographs opens in detroit. and she's working on a sequel to her memorandum... to her memoir. have you always been so driven? >> yes. love and work is always, to me, the most important thing. i'm just a born worker. just makes life so exciting. >> rose: still to come, 3-d. in perspective. and chantix worked for me. it's a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these, stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. my inspiration for quitting were my sons. they were my little cheering squad. [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. not in this economy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. at toyota's #1 for everyone sales event. why? 'cause people know toyota's the best. toyota has the most fuel-efficient and longest lasting vehicles of any full-line automaker. plus, every new toyota comes with the peace-of-mind of toyota care, a complimentary maintenance plan with roadside assistance. so from camry to tundra, this is your chance to save big on our most popular models. with the incredible deals you'll find... ...you're gonna want to hurry in for this one. ♪ [ male announcer ] the great savings won't last long. don't miss out. the hottest trend in hollywood. >> reporter: this morning instead of doing a new commentary, i thought i'd just show you an old piece you've already seen. except now i'm going to charge you four extra dollars to watch that piece because it's in 3-d. sounds like a terrible april fool's joke, right? and yet that's the joke hollywood keeps pulling on all of us. the extra d in 3-d it apparently stands for dollars and studios keep raking 'em in by capitalizing on the 3-d craze. this week titanic comes back to theaters, a movie that's already made over $1.8 billion worldwide. and yet executives are betting that folks will pay as much as $20 a ticket to see jack and rose again in i-max 3-d. in february, george lucas did the exact same thing. star wars episode 1 the phantom menace was re-released in 3-d. unfortunately the characters remained pretty one dimensional. >> this is your humble servant. >> reporter: 3-d re-releases have already been announced for top gun, the little mermaid, jurassic park. can 3-d citizen kane be far beyond? sophie's choice 3-d? >> i don't even know. >> reporter: these older movies were never meant to be shown in 3-d. they've been converted in post production. >> don't look at me that way. >> reporter: as a result if that's mostly just unnecessary. the images look murky. the motive, however, is perfectly clear. adding 3-d to a movie is a commercial decision. not a creative one. you know what? you can keep your glasses. i think i'll keep my money. >> osgood: coming up, of men and myths. with little toy trains and now i build them. i am a bigger is better kind of guy. i absolutely love building locomotives. i knew i wanted to design locomotives from when i was very young. [ jahmil ] from the outside it looks like such a simple device. when you actually get down into the bare bones of it, there's so much technology that's submerged. [ rob ] my welds are a signature, i could tell my welds apart from anybody's. you lay down that nice bead and you look at it, i love it. they don't go together by themselves. there are a lot of little parts, and everyone has their job. [ scott ] i'd love to see it out there on the open tracks. and when i see it, i'm gonna know that i helped build that thing. [ train whistle blows ] here she comes! [ bell clanging ] [ train whistle blows ] wow! [ charlie ] well, it's one thing seeing them built, but then to see them out here, pulling freight across america, it makes us proud. ♪ the passat is one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. not that we'd ever brag about it. turn right. come on, nine. turn left. hit the brakes. huh? how'd that get there? [ male announcer ] we can't hide how proud we are to have nine 2012 iihs top safety picks. so we're celebrating with our "safety in numbers" event. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the 2012 passat for $219 a month. >> osgood: no foolin', it's april 1. so we should all be a tad skeptical about everything today. that's good advice, everyday, says our mo rocca. >> ladies and gentlemen we interrupt our program to bring you a special bulletin. >> we take you now to grovers mills, new jersey. >> ladies and gentlemen.... >> reporter: we all know the story of the october 1938 war of the worlds radio play. >> that's the thing directly in front of me half buried in a vast pit. >> reporter: orson welles' production that convinced a lot of people that martians actually had landed in new jersey. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing i've ever witnessed. >> reporter: so many people went into a panic, those poor saps. back then people sure were gullible. we're smarter now, thanks to the internet. with humanity's collective knowledge just a click away, i know that i can charge my i-pod with an onion and some gatorade, that with the right set of wings, a man can fly like a bird. that wrapper... that rapper is alive and well and living in new zealand. i know well the dangers of a certain chemical. more on that later. i saw all these things online so they must be true. >> people want to latch on to a story that's really good. even if it's not true. and they'll spread that story. if that story is a video, then that's what they'll spread. >> reporter: adam savage and jeanney are tv's myth busters. >> that's what i'm talking about. perfect. >> reporter: for ten years they and their team have been debunking myths, legends and hoaxes. like that video supposedly showing an i-pod charged by an onion. >> busted. for those three three million net surfers who found this viral video utterly compelling, there's two minutes of your life you'll never get back again. >> reporter: we always thought that video equaled the truth. you-tube preys upon that. >> reporter: is that sort of the knewer version of what's in the newspaper it must be true. >> i think exactly. >> reporter: but even these proud skeptics were fooled by the recent video of the winged dutchman who calls himself yarn-o. >> it was incredibly well done. i couldn't spot any obvious problems with the footage. >> first the actual device itself wasn't that much different than a hang glider. we all know hang gliders work. in hindsight knowing that it is a hoax i think if we were doing it, it would look somewhat different but it wouldn't be terribly different. >> reporter: how does that seed of truth, then you're already like 80% of the way there towards believing what they're showing you. >> reporter: as for that extra 20%, if it's something you want to be true, that's an easy leap to make. >> this goes all the way back to icharus. man has had a fantasy about flying like a bird. we actually want it to be true. >> reporter: this individual video which experts say was done with digital effects was viewed 6.5 million times in less than a week. yes, there's a sucker born every nano second. every week is like a thousand episodes world of material. >> absolutely. >> people ask are you going to run out of myths? the answer is never. >> reporter: not likely. but just a decent computer and internet connection, a semi-tech literate correspondent can miraculously appear on a slice of toast. or take a leisurely stroll by the wreckage of the titanic. i could even scratch sasquatch's itch. how does that feel? a little to the left? okay. of course none of those things is true. nor is the chinese rainbow owl. another hoax that came and went just this past week. as for the dangers of di- hydrogen monoxide. that's di, as in two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen. don't say i didn't warn you. >> osgood: a story from correspondent mo rocca. now to bob schieffer in washington for a look at what's ahead on an hour-long edition of "face the nation." good morning, bob. >> schieffer: good morning, charles. i hope we'll make good use of the time. i think we can. we'll talk to vice president joe biden. then newt gingrich and ron paul. >> osgood: thank you, bob schieffer. we'll be watching. a little later anthony mason will continue his conversation with rock legend patti smith online. next week here on sunday morning, bowe tox close up. this sunday morning moment of nature is sponsored by... >> osgood: we leave you in a field of bluebonnets near round top texas. i'm charles osgood. please join us again next sunday morning. until then, i'll see you on the radio. i remember the day my doctor told me i have an irregular heartbeat, and that it put me at 5-times greater risk of a stroke. i was worried. i worried about my wife, and my family. bill has the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. he was taking warfarin, but i've put him on pradaxa instead. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mgs reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin without the need for regular blood tests. i sure was glad to hear that. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or bloodthinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk of stroke with pradaxa. captioning made possible by johnson & johnson, where quality products for the american family have been a tradition for generations captioned by media access group at wgbh ,,,,,,