Today on CBS News Sunday Morning I reported on the real-life "Iron Man": a robotic exoskeleton that amplifies the strength of the person wearing it up to 20 times.

I confess that I'd never even heard of Iron Man when producer Anthony Laudato approached me about the project. I assumed this was his own private obsession. (Anthony is such a robot fanatic, he's on the steering committee of the National Robot Museum, set to open in Landover, MD in 2011. And no, I'm not purchasing a ticket to their "steel tie" gala fundraiser.) But once I began reading about Tony Stark, Iron Man's womanizing, hard-drinking genius inventor, I was hooked.

The real-life exoskeleton is named XOS and is the brainchild of Dr. Stephen Jacobson's team at Raytheon Sarcos in Salt Lake City. Jacobson is the man behind the Utah artificial arm, created in 1983 and still the standard for casualties of war. XOS is being developed for commercial, medical and military purposes. (One intriguing goal is for XOS to be used by medical personnel to help move patients.) What was most extraordinary to me was the near instantaneous reaction of the suit to the user's movements -- i.e., if the guy inside of it moved his right arm upward ever so slightly, XOS moved right with it. (One problem with XOS's various predecessors is that the exoskeleton would take more than a split second to follow along, thus creating a drag effect that exhausts the user ... and defeats much of the purpose.)

Here is a photo from the shoot:


Mercy!

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Readers of this blog know that I am a long-time fan of Mormon singing. So the ouster of golden-voiced songstress Brooke White from American Idol last week was both shocking -- and clear evidence of prejudice. Had she remained in the competition, a staggering 50% of the remaining contestants would be LDS members. Surprising, yes. But so what? Every great American show tune composer, with the exception of Cole Porter, has been Jewish. And I wouldn't sacrifice one bar of Gershwin, Kern, Berlin, Rodgers, Loesser or Sondheim in some wrongheaded attempt to "spread the wealth."

Whether or not the elimination of Brooke White qualifies as a hate crime is something for lawyers to sort out. The producers of American Idol should sigh relief that Mormons tend to be less litigious than other Christian denominations. (They're too busy singing and trying to improve their dancing.)

In any case, my trip to Salt Lake City to report on XOS meant a stay at the hip Hotel Monaco. I'd stayed there before and really didn't notice the personnel. But this time, I couldn't help but notice something peculiar: Every employee's name tag had a mysterious designation right below their names. The spiky-haired blond desk clerk's tag read "Brian," with "Sponge Bob" written on a second line. His colleague's tag read "Whitney," with "Purple" just below it. (My producer Anthony is terrified of the color purple. He pretended not to hear her when she offered to check him in and instead waited for Brian.)

What were these special inscriptions? Were they nicknames? Biblical citations? Second Life avatars? My initial instinct was simply not to ask. I'm sensitive to all religious traditions. And many of my dearest Utah friends are still reeling from the Utah War, the bloody conflict between federal authorities and the Mormon militia that ended in July 1858. (If anyone knows of sesquicentennial celebrations for the end of the Utah War, please write. We'd all like to know!)

But I also knew that not asking might constitute a sin of omission. What if the employees were members of a cell, communicating through their own secret language of name tag code? I wanted to ask Chelsie (alias: "Coca-Cola"), but she looked terrified when I glanced at her tag. Was Chelsie strapped to a bomb against her will? Set to detonate when I got too nosy?

Finally I asked Buddy, the valet (alias: "Love").

"They're our guilty pleasures," he said. "They show another side of us."

Love is a guilty pleasure? Huh? I understood how Chelsie's Coke habit constituted a guilty pleasure, what with the Mormon prohibition against caffeine.

"Did these have to be approved?" I asked. "I imagine some were too racy."

"Oh, yeah," said Buddy. "Jake's guilty pleasure was cougars," he said referring to women who like men 10 years younger. "That wasn't going to fly. He managed to get 'cougar' singular put on his tag. But the boss was still bothered."

So what did Jake (another valet) end up with?

"Tulips," said Buddy.

Is it just me, or does "Tulips" sound dirtier than "Cougars"?

David Archuleta	Brooke White

On Wednesday night's American Idol results show, something extraordinary happened: The first of the Top Ten finalists announced was tiger beat boy David Archuleta. The second was the group's "Mommy" Brooke White.

So for at least a few minutes 100% of the confirmed finalists were Mormons. Think about that.

This day was a day that was never supposed to come. Indeed for the first few seasons of Idol the idea of an openly Mormon Top Ten finalist was simply unfathomable. (Statistics on Mormon Idol contestants are famously unreliable.) Clearly times have changed. Is this a belated validation of the strides made by the Mitt Romney candidacy? Perhaps. Although the Republican ex-Governor's campaign failed, he forced Americans to come to terms with their anti-LDS prejudices and emboldened Mormon voters (and singers?) to flex their muscle (and vocal cords?).

Whatever the ramifications of this explosion of out and proud LDS singers, the question must be asked: Are Mormons simply better at singing than other Christian denominations? The answer seems to be yes.

With 5.5 million church members in the U.S., they represent less than 2% of the population. And yet they're 20% of the Idol Top Ten. (Factor in the international scope of this year's competition - itself a controversy - and the LDS representation is even more impressive.) No other Christian denomination comes close.

The Osmonds, of course, are the best example of what critics call the "Mormon Melody Mafia." Out of nine children born to George and Olive Osmond, seven (a whopping 77%) are gifted singers. The other two, Virl and Tom, are deaf. Yet even they appreciate music, having appeared on The Donnie and Marie Christmas Special in 1978.

So why are Mormons such good singers?

• They don't smoke. (I love Bonnie Tyler as much as anyone, but raspy-voiced singers spend their careers swimming upstream.)
  
• They don't drink alcohol or caffeine.
  
• They have large families that sing together at home and in tabernacle choirs. On a trip to Salt Lake City in 1999 I had the great pleasure of sitting through a rehearsal of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The acoustics: astonishing. The organ: 11,623 pipes. The experience: unforgettable. One of my favorite cds remains the choir singing civil war hymns.
  
• They live at high altitudes. Because they're used to thin air, their breath control is unrivaled. (Whether that gives them an unfair advantage at sea level is another matter.)
  
• They don't dance.

This last point is certain to provoke sharp disagreement. But here are the facts: Most Mormons can't dance. As a result, their focus remains squarely on singing. So rather than being mediocre singer-dancers, they're bungling, graceless, lumbering ... and golden-voiced. "Klutzy Carusos," one famous music critic dubbed them. Wait outside the stage door of the Tabernacle Choir as the 320 choristers exit post-performance and you'll likely witness a massive pile-up. A mountain of tangled limbs and sheet music. But the cries for help? Never off-key.

(That Marie Osmond could put one foot in front of the other on Dancing with the Stars was a miracle. Of course it would have helped had she practiced more and shrieked about her doll collection less.)

Not surprisingly the first of the Top Twelve finalists eliminated was lap-dancer David Hernandez. (Lap-dancing is strictly forbidden in Utah, with two exceptions: the Olympic village in 2002 was granted dispensation. Plus there's a club in Provo that sells membership cards for lap-dancing.) I liked David Hernandez but I suspect he would have sounded better had he not spread himself so thin.

So what do you think? Why are Mormons so much better than other Christians at singing?

***

HELP WANTED:

- I'm still looking for material for my cabaret show featuring music about states. Specifically I'm looking for a recording of - or even just sheet music for - the early 20th century song "When it's Apple Blossom Time in Orange, New Jersey, we'll make a Peach of a Pair." (I realize that this is more about fruit than New Jersey, but it sounds like a winner.) Also has anyone heard Steve Allen's song "Spring in Maine"? Is it any good?

- Is anyone reading involved in planning a 200th birthday celebration for Abraham Lincoln? I'm a huge Lincoln lover and want to get involved. I emailed historian Richard Norton Smith at George Mason University, but he hasn't responded. (He once gave me a private tour of the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, so I'm guessing he's just been busy. Or maybe he's still sore at my Mary Todd Lincoln wisecracks.)