This week on “Sunday Morning” (August 17)

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 11:00 a.m. ET. (Download it here.) 

Hosted by Jane Pauley

COVER STORY: Capturing the melting of glaciers, with data and art | Watch Video
For more than 40 years, glaciologist Mauri Pelto has been measuring the shrinking glaciers in the rugged North Cascade Mountains of Washington State. He’s been joined by his daughter, artist-scientist Jill Pelto, whose watercolors provide another view of the drastically-changing landscape, as the effects of human-caused climate change on glaciers becomes even more starkly apparent. Correspondent Ben Tracy reports. [Produced in partnership with Climate Central.]

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ALMANAC: August 17 (Video)
“Sunday Morning” looks back at historical events on this date.

TELEVISION: Becoming a TV commercial icon (Video)
You know them as Flo, the Progressive Insurance saleswoman; Mayhem, the human embodiment of disasters covered by Allstate; and the unstoppable dancer from the Jardiance diabetes drug ads. Correspondent David Pogue talks with actors Stephanie Courtney, Dean Winters and Deanna Colon about how becoming nationally famous via TV commercials has (or hasn’t) changed their lives. (Original air date: Feb. 9, 2025.)

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ARTS: Rashid Johnson on art as a source of potential joy (Video)
Artist Rashid Johnson has used multiple media and materials to create works that examine race, masculinity, identity, aesthetics, and (he says) his own anxiety. Now, Johnson’s career is the focus of an exhibition at the Guggenheim New York, “A Poem for Deep Thinkers.” Correspondent Alina Cho reports.

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MUSIC: Laufey on creating her own sound | Watch Video
Whimsical and romantic, the music of Icelandic singer and cellist Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir, or Laufey, blends pop, jazz, classical and bossa nova – a “mishmash,” she calls it, which has led to sold-out shows, bestselling albums, and a Grammy Award. With her third album, “A Matter of Time,” being released this week, she sits down with correspondent Tracy Smith to discuss her musical tastes; her reaction to the response of young fans; and the thrill of singing a duet with Barbra Streisand of a song she composed, “Letter To My 13-Year-Old Self.”

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Extended interview – Laufey (Video)
The Icelandic singer and instrumentalist Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir, who records under the name Laufey, talks with “Sunday Morning” correspondent Tracy Smith about the ambiguity she finds while composing music. She also discusses going viral during the COVID pandemic by posting her performances of jazz standards online; the blurring of genres; and becoming a bridge for younger audiences to explore traditional jazz and classical, as she records music while playing piano, guitar and cello. She also performs “Dreamer,” from her album “Bewitched.”

To hear Laufey performing “Silver Lining,” from her album “A Matter of Time,” click on the video player below:

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WORLD: The Summit: Trump’s diplomatic gambit, and Putin’s prize (Video)
The first meeting between the American and Russian presidents since Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine three-and-a-half years ago resulted in no ceasefire, and no concrete results. So, what did President Trump and President Putin achieve? CBS News chief political analyst John Dickerson offers perspective on a meeting ended in a fog of diplomatic ambiguity.

TECH: A robotics activist’s remarkable crusade (Video)
Twenty-two years ago, Silicon Valley executive Henry Evans had a massive stroke that left him mute and paralyzed from the neck down. But that didn’t prevent him from becoming a leading advocate of adaptive robotic tech to help disabled people – or from writing country songs, one letter at a time. Correspondent John Blackstone talks with Evans about his upbeat attitude and unlikely pursuits.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Robots open up the world of art (Video)
The De Young, one of San Francisco’s fine art museums, now has two robots that open the museum up to those who cannot attend, including the physically handicapped. John Blackstone reports on the state-of-the-art in museum tour guides, and interviews robotics activist Henry Evans, a former Silicon Valley executive who is now almost completely paralyzed, and who worked with the museum to make touring by robot a reality. (Air date: March 1, 2025.)  

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THESE UNITED STATES: America’s first cash crop (Video)
Tobacco had been cultivated and smoked by Native Americans for centuries before Christopher Columbus introduced it to Europe. Jane Pauley reports on how growing tobacco became America’s first cash crop – and ingrained in the nation’s culture for generations.  

TV: “Severance” star Adam Scott | Watch Video
Actor Adam Scott (who previously starred in the sitcom “Parks and Recreation”) is the Emmy-nominated lead in the critically-acclaimed Apple TV+ series “Severance,” about workers at a mysterious corporation whose brains are altered to create distinctly separate personalities in and out of the office. He talks with correspondent Conor Knighton about his 30-year path to this head trip of a series, and what it took for him to pull it off. Knighton also talks with director Ben Stiller about how the surreal show came together.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Extended interview – Adam Scott (Video)
Actor Adam Scott, star of the surreal Apple TV+ series “Severance,” talks with correspondent Conor Knighton about how the fascination with TV and film shoots originated for him. He also discusses looking for dramatic roles after becoming known as a comic star in the sitcom “Parks and Recreation”; and how he responded to the fame that came with the success of “Severance.”

To watch the opening titles of “Severance” click on the video player below:

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PASSAGE: In memoriam (Video)
“Sunday Morning” remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week, including former child actress Danielle Spencer, star of the 1970s sitcom “What’s Happening!!”

NATIONAL: A desk with the greatest view | Watch Video
In the late 1970s, a group of university students in West Texas, wanting a place to study with a view, hauled a desk to the top of Hancock Hill (elevation: 4,900 feet), in the town of Alpine. Today, the desk is a pilgrimage for hikers seeking a meditative place, who leave behind messages in the desk’s notebook. Correspondent Janet Shamlian reports on what has become a unique travel destination.

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MILEPOST: So long, Joe Frandino!
“Sunday Morning” says goodbye to veteran editor Joseph Frandino, retiring after many years here at CBS News.

NATURE: Providence Canyon in Georgia

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MARATHON: The marvels of Alaska (YouTube Video)
Explore the majesty of the 49th State with these entertaining stories from the “Sunday Morning” archives: 

• Charles Osgood looks back on the 1867 purchase of Alaska (2008)
• A visit to the Gates of the Arctic National Park (2017)
• Surfing in the frigid waters off Yakutat, Alaska (2000)
• Luke Burbank on a grueling 750-mile boat race from Port Townsend, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska (2017)
• How WWII soldiers and laborers helped pave the way for Alaska’s expansion (1992)
• Prince William Sound, five years after the Exxon Valdez disaster (1994)
• The World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska (2015)
• Raising sled dogs in Denali National Park (2016)
• Lee Cowan visits Whittier, Alaska, where nearly the entire population lives under the same roof (2021)
• The search for the remains of a U.S. Air Force crew lost in a plane crash on an Alaskan glacier in 1952 (2022)
• Humorist David Sedaris on the highlights of his trip to Alaska (2022)
• Conor Knighton takes a ride on the Alaska Railroad (2023)
• Nature: Northern Lights (2024)  

GALLERY: LOLLAPALOOZA 2025
Scroll through our gallery of some of 2025’s leading live acts, including from Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival, featuring images by CBS News photojournalist Jake Barlow and photographers Ed Spinelli and Kirstine Walton. 

MARATHON: An ode to coffee lovers (YouTube Video)
“CBS Sunday Morning” serves up a rich pot of stories about the varieties of coffee brewed across countries and cultures.

• A Tokyo café where customers are on deadline
• Taste testing with artificial intelligence
• The secret behind bodega coffee
• True espresso love: Attending a university of coffee
• Jim Gaffigan: Decaf coffee is un-American
• Almanac: Instant coffee
• A toast to Irish coffee
• Bringing Yemeni coffee back to America
• Pumpkin spice takes over the world
• How single-serve coffee became a “must-have”
• Coffee for a smile

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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“Sunday Morning” also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. (Download it here.) 

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