News Stories

Excerpts of Key News Stories in Major Media

Below are highly revealing excerpts of key news stories from the major media that suggest major cover-ups and corruption. Links are provided to the full stories on their media websites. If any link fails to function, read this webpage. These news stories are listed by date posted. You can explore the same list by order of importance or by date of news story. By choosing to educate ourselves and to spread the word, we can and will build a brighter future.

Note: This comprehensive list of news stories is usually updated once a week. Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news stories on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.

Future wars just might revolve around insect-size spy robots. A recent digest of present-day microbots by US national security magazine The National Interest breaks down the many machines currently in development by the US military and its associates. They include sea-based microdrones, cockroach-style surveillance bots, and even cyborg insects. Arguably the most refined program to date is the RoboBee, currently being shopped by Harvard's Wyss Institute. Originally funded by a $9.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation in 2009, the RoboBee is a bug-sized autonomous flying vehicle capable of transitioning from water to air, perching on surfaces, and autonomous collision avoidance in swarms. The RoboBee features two "wafer-thin" wings that flap some 120 times a second to achieve vertical takeoff and mid-air hovering. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has reportedly taken a keen interest in RoboBee prototypes, sponsoring research into microfabrication technology, presumably for quick field deployments. Other developments, like the aforementioned cyborg insect, remain in early stages. Researchers have successfully demonstrated the capabilities of these remote-control systems using of a range of insect hosts, from the unicorn beetle to the humble cockroach. Underwater microrobotics are another area of interest for DARPA.

Note: Explore all news article summaries on emerging warfare technology in our comprehensive news database.

In his 1963 scifi story "The Invincible," the Polish writer StanisĹ‚aw Lem imagined an artificial species of free-floating nanobots which roamed the atmosphere of a far-off planet. Like tiny bugs, the microscopic beings were powerless alone, but together they could form cooperative swarms to gather energy, reproduce, and ultimately defend their territory from predators with deadly force. Lem probably never imagined his evolutionary parable of living dust was just a few decades from becoming a reality – or that it would become the inspiration for the development of a real-life military technology known as "smart dust." Starting out as a theoretical research proposal to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ... smart dust is now being developed for use in a wide variety of industries, from environmental studies to commercial mining. That's according to Interesting Engineering, which recently published a rundown of the state of present-day smart dust after decades of development. Though "dust" remains a bit of a misnomer – it's more like a bunch of tiny sensors capable of delaying data to a central device – there's a large body of theoretical and simulated work laying a path for practical microengineering that's steadily coming into its own. In the future, [smart dust is] hoped to be able to report a near-infinite amount of data in suspended, 3D environments. The current "smart dust industry" ... was valued at around $115 million in 2022.

Note: Smart dust can theoretically be used to spy on human thought. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Big Tech and the disappearance of privacy.

The United States is building up its military assets, sparking fears of another regime change attempt against Venezuela–and this one could be far more deadly than the others. Citing an influx of Venezuelan drugs into the U.S., the Trump administration is rapidly building up its military forces, encircling the South American nation. While this is officially a counter-narcotics operation, few in Washington bother to hide their true intentions. "Dear Foreign Terrorist Leader Maduro, Your days are seriously numbered," Former National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn stated publicly. In a recent interview, President Maduro claimed that most of the profits from the trade stay in the U.S. "Eighty-five percent of the billions from international drug trafficking each year are in banks in the United States. That is where the cartel is," he said, adding: "There is $500 billion in the U.S. banking system, in reputable banks. It is from the United States that all drug trafficking is directed." In 2014, Juan Orlando Hernández came to power in Honduras following a U.S.-backed coup. Hernández quickly began using his position to enrich himself, allying with the infamous Sinaloa Cartel. Last year, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison for distributing more than 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. The U.S. government supported his administration. In 2008, Bolivia ... expelled the DEA from the country, leading to a significant drop in the production of cocaine.

Note: Our original investigation explores the dark truth of the war on drugs. During the 2008 financial crisis when banks were starved of cash, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime Antonio Maria Costa said he had evidence that proceeds from the drug trade were the only liquid capital keeping major banks afloat. According to Costa, the interbank loans the global financial system depended on were being funded by drug money. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on military corruption and the war on drugs.

Speculation is growing that Ghislaine Maxwell could soon be freed. Despite campaigning on the promise to release the Epstein Files, there are increasing signs that the Trump administration is considering pardoning the world's most notorious convicted sex trafficker. For years, Maxwell aided her partner Jeffrey Epstein in trafficking and raping girls and young women. Epstein's associates included billionaires, scientists, celebrities, and politicians, including President Trump, whom he considered his "closest friend." While many of Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes have come to light, less well-known are her family's myriad connections to both the U.S. and Israeli national security states. Chief among these are those of her father, disgraced media baron and early tech entrepreneur, Robert Maxwell. Maxwell's biographers ... write that he was first recruited by Israeli intelligence in the 1960s and began buying up Israeli tech corporations. Israel used these companies and their software to carry out spying and other clandestine operations. Maxwell amassed a vast business empire of 350 companies, employing 16,000 people. He owned an array of newspapers, including The New York Daily News. Throughout the 1990s, Epstein's biographer Julie K. Brown noted, he openly boasted about working for both the CIA and Mossad. Epstein met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns three times in 2014. Burns would later be named director of the CIA.

Note: Read our comprehensive Substack investigation covering the connection between Epstein's child sex trafficking ring and intelligence agency sexual blackmail operations. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Epstein's criminal enterprise and intelligence agency corruption.

Epstein's relationship with the Israeli government has long been the subject of speculation and conspiracy theorizing. But the extent of the connections has long been difficult to prove. That is, until October 2024, when the Palestinian group Handala released a tranche of more than 100,000 hacked emails from former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who led the country from 1999 to 2001. Barak is known to have been one of Epstein's closest associates. He visited the financier's estates in Florida and New York more than 30 times between 2013 and 2017, years after Epstein had been convicted for soliciting a minor for prostitution. Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's most prominent victims, who died earlier this year, alleged in her posthumous memoir that a figure, described only as "the Prime Minister," but widely believed to be Barak, violently raped her on Epstein's private Caribbean island when she was 18. Epstein helped to facilitate an agreement for Mongolia to purchase Israeli military equipment and surveillance technology from companies with which the men had financial ties. An Israeli spy, Yoni Koren, stayed at Epstein's New York apartment for weeks at a time on three separate occasions between 2013 and 2015. Koren served as an intermediary between the American and Israeli governments, helping Barak organize meetings with top intelligence officials, including former CIA Director Leon Panetta.

Note: Read our comprehensive Substack investigation covering the connection between Epstein's child sex trafficking ring and intelligence agency sexual blackmail operations. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Epstein's criminal enterprise and intelligence agency corruption.

Virginia Giuffre says she feared she might "die a sex slave" at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and his circle, her posthumous memoir reveals. The BBC has obtained a full copy of Nobody's Girl, written by the prominent accuser of convicted sex offender Epstein, ahead of its publication ... almost six months after she took her own life. In the memoir, Ms Giuffre also says she had sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions. At the centre of the abuse was Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence on sex-trafficking charges. She says Epstein subjected her to sadomasochistic sex which caused her "so much pain that I prayed I would black out". Ms Giuffre says she first met Prince Andrew [at age 17] in March 2001. Ms Giuffre says she had sex for a second time with the prince around a month later at Epstein's townhouse in New York. She says the third occasion was on Epstein's island as part of what Ms Giuffre called "an orgy". "Epstein, Andy, and approximately eight other young girls and I had sex together," she says. "The other girls all appeared to be under the age of 18 and didn't really speak English. "Epstein laughed about how they couldn't really communicate, saying they are the easiest girls to get along with." The Metropolitan Police said it was "actively" looking into media reports that Prince Andrew tried to obtain personal information about Ms Giuffre through his police protection officer (PPO).

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Epstein's criminal enterprise.

US military veterans are significantly more likely than other Americans to be jailed at least once in their lives. Thanks to mass incarceration, the number of vets in prison doubled between the end of the Vietnam War and 9/11. How did [180,000 vets] end up in a US prison population now numbering more than 1.2 million? Overall, about one-third of all veterans, who number nineteen million, report having been arrested and booked into jail at least once in their lives, as compared to less than one-fifth of the rest of the population. When they end up incarcerated, veterans receive longer sentences than nonveterans, despite the good work of a national network of Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs). This "hybrid drug and mental health treatment system" offers access to counseling services, opportunities for housing, education and job employment, and disability benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). But the effectiveness of their "reparative justice" approach varies from state to state and is not available to vets charged with violent crimes, which disqualifies many defendants. More than 300,000 veterans, who served at home and abroad, since 9/11 also received less than "honorable" discharges. For the DOD, despite its ample $884 billion budget, getting rid of soldiers whose performance is adversely affected by PTSD, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), military sexual trauma (MST), drug or alcohol abuse is easier, quicker, and cheaper than treating them.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on corruption in the military and in the prison system.

Compared to other developed nations, the United States is an extreme outlier in the severity of its criminal legal system. Police in the United States kill civilians at between five and forty times the rate of similarly rich countries, for instance, and the United States imprisons people at about seven times the rate of economically comparable countries. The brunt of this aggressive penal regime is borne of course by poor Americans, particularly poor black Americans. Recently, all of the states in the US have begun to impose fees and charges and costs on offenders and their families: people now have to pay for staying in prison as if they're guests in a hotel. Or if they're on probation instead of being sent to jail, they have to pay for the probation supervision, or they have to pay for a urine test. In one police department in Missouri, offenders who have been tasered have to pay $25 toward the cost of using the taser. In this country, particularly in the neoliberal era, the local state simply doesn't have the capacity or resources to invest in communities and provide housing, schools, jobs, income support, health care services, and so on. What it does have is police and jails, and states have prisons. The politics of the day ... mean that it's always going to be much more likely that the police and the punishment are the first resort, rather than long-term investments in communities, work, families, income support, and jobs.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on prison system corruption.

In Colombia, compulsory military service has been a burden that generations of young men have had to face for more than 200 years. Since 1991, the Mennonite Christian Association for Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Action – Justapaz - has walked another path. We are a team that has been telling the country for more than three decades that young people were not born for war. That compulsory military service is not a patriotic duty, but an injustice. And, most importantly, that there is another way to serve the ‘homeland'. At first, we campaigned for young people to have the right to conscientious objection. In 2016, we decided to go further: to work together with other social, youth and political organisations for the creation of the Social Service for Peace – an alternative service that trades weapons for tools and military discipline for social projects that transform lives. In 2024, our campaign was successful, and the service will be gradually implemented from 2025. Imagine this: instead of an 18-year-old learning to shoot a rifle, you see him teaching reading in a rural school. Instead of long days in barracks, you see him helping to build houses in a conflict-affected community. Instead of preparing his mind for war, you see him learning about human rights, about reconciliation, about how to heal wounds that are not just physical. That's Social Service for Peace. This programme is now codified in law.

Note: War destroys, yet these powerful real-life stories show that we can heal, reimagine better alternatives, and plant the seeds of a global shift in consciousness to transform our world. Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine.

There are two people on the Zoom screen in front of me. One, a Palestinian man in the ancient city of Jericho in the West Bank. The other, an Israeli woman in Tel Aviv. They're separated, literally and metaphorically, by a wall. And they're united in loss: specifically, the loss of a child. Something else unites them: a determination to build bridges of shared understanding at a time when the gulf between their peoples seems deeper than ever. They're both part of the Parents Circle – Families Forum (PCFF), membership of which has the grimmest of qualifications: that your child has been killed in the conflict. Their backgrounds could not be more different, and yet, partly because of their loss, they've arrived in the same place. The fighting has to end, and bereaved parents are better placed than most to achieve that. "Before you start to talk [in those meetings]," says [parent Bassam] Aramin, "you can see in their eyes the fear – even hatred – for this Arab, this ‘terrorist'. And after you finish your human story, suddenly there is no fear. Suddenly there is empathy. Some of them cry. Some of them want to shake your hand. This is, as Robi always calls it, our ‘emotional breakthrough'." ‘Robi' is Robi Damelin, now director of international relations for the PCFF. Born and raised in a comfortable home in South Africa, she followed in a family tradition – her uncle had helped defend Mandela in his first treason trial – by speaking out against apartheid.

Note: War destroys, yet these powerful real-life stories show that we can heal, reimagine better alternatives, and plant the seeds of a global shift in consciousness to transform our world. Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine.

According to a new study by researchers at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, both Democrats and Republicans significantly underestimate the diversity of policy attitudes within their own party and among the opposing party. This discovery challenges existing beliefs about polarization and suggests that reducing these misperceptions could ease political tensions. Previous research has suggested that Democrats and Republicans consistently overestimate how radical the other party is, always believing that the other party is much more radical than it actually is. However, this study suggests that the greater error in Democrats' and Republicans' perceptions is how diverse they perceive the parties to be. The researchers also measured how participants felt toward the other party and how comfortable they were socializing with them. The more a participant perceived the other side to hold diverse attitudes, the more participants liked the other party and felt comfortable socializing with them. Perceiving the other party as having more diverse attitudes was also associated with lesser concern that the party supports violating democratic norms. "Our research suggests that fostering awareness of the diversity within political parties could reduce partisan hostility and create space for more constructive dialogue," says Lelkes, co-director of the Polarization Research Lab.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division.

Ultra-processed food (UPF) is linked to harm in every major organ system of the human body and poses a seismic threat to global health. UPF is also rapidly displacing fresh food in the diets of children and adults on every continent, and is associated with an increased risk of a dozen health conditions, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and depression. The findings, from a series of three papers published in the Lancet, come as millions of people increasingly consume UPF such as ready meals, cereals, protein bars, fizzy drinks and fast food. In the UK and US, more than half the average diet now consists of UPF. For some, especially people who are younger, poorer or from disadvantaged areas, a diet comprising as much as 80% UPF is typical. Evidence reviewed by 43 of the world's leading experts suggests that diets high in UPF are linked to overeating, poor nutritional quality and higher exposure to harmful chemicals and additives. A systematic review of 104 long-term studies conducted for the series found 92 reported greater associated risks of one or more chronic diseases, and early death from all causes. One of the Lancet series authors, Prof Carlos Monteiro ... said the findings underlined why urgent action is needed to tackle UPF. "The first paper in this Lancet series indicates that ultra-processed foods harm every major organ system in the human body. The evidence strongly suggests that humans are not biologically adapted to consume them."

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health and food system corruption.

Marie began taking fluoxetine, the generic form of Prozac, when she was 15. The drug – an S.S.R.I., a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor – was part of her treatment in an outpatient program for an eating disorder. It took its toll on her sexuality. Marie told me she has PSSD, post-S.S.R.I. sexual dysfunction, a loss of sexuality that persists after the drug is no longer being taken. Clinicians have published more than 500 case reports in academic literature about the experience of PSSD. A 2020 editorial in The British Medical Journal argued, "Post-S.S.R.I. sexual dysfunction is underrecognized and can be debilitating both psychologically and physically." The effects of S.S.R.I.s on young sexuality are all the more relevant because prescriptions for the drugs have soared. Around two million 12-to-17-year-olds in the United States are on S.S.R.I.s. One large 2024 study ... tallied, month by month, the percentage of that age group who filled an antidepressant prescription between 2016 and 2022. During that time, the rate climbed by 69 percent. There are no dedicated studies of sexual side effects among the young. All that is available is extrapolation from research among adults. Depending on the symptom, drug and duration of use, between 30 and 80 percent of adults taking S.S.R.I.s live to varying degrees with diminished desire, sensation and function, according to a 2019 study.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Big Pharma profiteering and mental health.

In 2001, the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) published a paper declaring that the antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil) was "generally well tolerated and effective" for adolescent depression. That conclusion was false. The manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), knew from its own data that the drug failed to outperform placebo and carried a serious risk of suicidal behaviour. Instead of telling the truth, GSK hired a public-relations firm to ghostwrite the paper, enlisted academic co-authors who never saw the raw data, and used the publication to promote Paxil to doctors treating children. It became known as Study 329 – one of the most infamous cases of scientific fraud in modern psychiatry. The paper remained in circulation – cited hundreds of times, shaping prescribing habits, and legitimising a lie that cost young lives. The paper listed 22 authors – two were GSK employees, and most had never reviewed the raw data or disclosed their financial ties to the company. Once the article appeared in print, GSK's sales force distributed it to thousands of doctors as "proof" that Paxil worked in teens. Within three years, the company made more than a billion dollars from what it called the "adolescent market." In 2003, the FDA concluded: "There is currently no evidence that Paxil is effective in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder." In 2012, GSK pleaded guilty and paid a $3 billion settlement to resolve criminal and civil charges.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Big Pharma profiteering and mental health.

Microplastics! They're in everything, from our bodies to the ocean. And apparently they're even found in sediment layers that date back as early as the first half of the 1700s, showing microplastics' pernicious ability to infiltrate even environments untouched by modern humans. A team of European researchers made this alarming discovery after studying the sediment layers at three lakes in Latvia, as detailed in a study published in the journal Science Advances. The scientists were studying lake sediment to test if the presence of microplastics in geological layers would be a reliable indicator for the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch, defined in the study as starting in 1950 and meant to delineate when humans started having a large impact on our environment. Scientists have long used layers of ash or ice to study past events on Earth, leading to the question of whether microplastics can serve as a reliable chronological marker for the Anthropocene. Clearly not, according to this new research, which found microplastics in every layer of sediment they dredged up, including one from 1733. "We conclude that interpretation of microplastics distribution in the studied sediment profiles is ambiguous and does not strictly indicate the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch," the scientists wrote. It also shows microplastics' remarkable ability to get absolutely everywhere.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on environmental destruction. Then explore the emerging field of solutions to the problem of microplastics.

A 2024 mass monarch butterfly die-off in California was probably caused by pesticide exposure, new peer-reviewed research finds, adding difficult-to-obtain evidence to the theory that pesticides are partly behind dramatic declines in monarchs' numbers in recent decades. Researchers discovered hundreds of butterflies that had died or were dying in January 2024 near an overwintering site, where insects spend winter months. The butterflies were found twitching or dead in piles, which are common signs of neurotoxic pesticide poisoning, researchers wrote. Testing of 10 of the insects revealed an average of seven pesticides in each, and at levels that researchers suspect were lethal. As much as 90% of the monarch butterfly population in some US regions has been wiped out in recent decades, and evidence has pointed to pesticides, climate crisis and habitat loss as the drivers. The butterflies were found adjacent to the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary, one of about 400 wintering sites along California's coast that are crucial points in the monarchs' migratory and reproductive cycles. Though an investigation by a state agricultural official did not determine a source of the die-off, pesticide ... run off in shallow water sources near where high numbers of butterflies collectively drink present a risk for the type of mass die-off at Pacific Grove. All the butterflies showed high levels of the same three pyrethroids, a pesticide class widely used in California.

Note: Read more about the insect apocalypse. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on toxic chemicals.

Carbon markets were first created decades ago as a means for companies to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by paying to reduce emissions somewhere else. Think: planting trees that hold carbon in South America to balance emissions from a factory in South Carolina. And over the last several years, policymakers, environmental and farm groups, and private companies began hyping the idea that specific markets could be created to pay farmers for adopting practices that could reduce emissions and hold carbon in soil. Congress passed the Growing Climate Solutions Act on a bipartisan basis in an effort to jump-start the markets. The two practices that dominate current markets–no-till and cover crops–require herbicides to succeed in the way they're practiced. Farmers use herbicides to kill weeds that they could otherwise till under and to kill cover crops before planting a cash crop. [Hamilton College researchers raised concerns] that markets would incentivize activities that required heavy chemical inputs, which a farmer would have to purchase from a chemical company. Currently, Bayer, Corteva, and Truterra's markets all pay farmers primarily to adopt no-till systems and to plant cover crops. And there is a long history of companies using those specific practices to market pesticides linked to serious health risks. As far back as the 1970s, Chevron Chemical promoted paraquat ... as a tool to convert to no-till farming.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on climate change and toxic chemicals.

Between April and June of this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the approval of four new pesticides that qualify as PFAS based on a definition that is commonly used around the world and supported by experts. "What we're seeing right now is the new generation of pesticides, and it's genuinely frightening," said Nathan Donley, the environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, who published a paper last year showing pesticides are increasingly fluorinated. Fluorination is the process that creates PFAS. "At a time when most industries are transitioning away from PFAS, the pesticide industry is doubling down. They're firmly in the business of selling PFAS." Because the EPA uses a different, narrower definition of PFAS, the agency does not categorize the new pesticides as falling into that category. Under the Trump administration, the [Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention] is being run by three industry insiders. Nancy Beck, formerly an executive at the American Chemistry Council, who previously pushed the EPA to weaken rules on PFAS in consumer products; Lynn Ann Dekleva, a former DuPont executive; and Kyle Kunkler, who has lobbied against pesticide regulations for the American Soybean Association. While the new pesticides are shorter-chain molecules compared to the other longer-chain molecules, they could still stick around in the environment for decades or even centuries.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on government corruption and toxic chemicals.

Traditional dairy farms calves are separated from their mothers within 24 hours of their birth. It allows farmers to collect the milk that the calves would naturally drink and sell it to be made into dairy products. But one farmer in the south of Scotland is pioneering an unconventional method of commercial dairy farming - keeping cow and calf together for about six months. David Finlay, who farms 130 dairy cows near Gatehouse of Fleet, claims the system results in higher animal welfare standards and a more profitable business. Now he is calling for the Scottish government to fund a radical new cow-with-calf development programme. The Finlays implemented the cow-with-calf system with their herd, but the decision almost bankrupted the business when they did not have enough milk left to sell to market. After overhauling their business plan and adopting a new approach, the couple found a way of making the system financially viable. David claims that among the benefits are happier cows and staff, healthier animals and an increase in life-expectancy. "What we've found is we can carry 25% more cows on the farm, because the young stock are growing and maturing so much faster and the cows are yielding 25% more milk," he said. "So even with the calves drinking a third of their mother's milk, the system is actually more efficient, more productive and more profitable." Rainton Farm is now the largest commercial cow-with-calf dairy farm in Europe.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this on reimagining the economy and healing the Earth.

"This is the farm," Sierra Alea said. "This is how to eliminate food waste from landfills," Alea said. That's the idea behind Afterlife Ag, the mushroom-growing startup of which she is a co-founder. Winson Wong, another co-founder of Afterlife Ag, said that 80 to 85 percent of what is thrown away in a restaurant is "prep waste, " material like egg shells, lemon wedges and tomato peels. Afterlife Ag's model [is] picking up restaurant waste – not the scraps that customers had left on their plates but discards from the chefs who had prepared their meals – and returning with mushrooms. Soon Afterlife Ag was involved in the intricacies of farming and creating substrate in which to grow mushrooms, sometimes with wood chips or shavings from sawmills, sometimes with sawdust from purveyors that smoke fish, sometimes with hemp from hemp farms. "Food waste varies from day to day," said Aaron Kang, the head grower at Afterlife Ag. Afterlife Ag harvests mushrooms every day and packs them in five-pound boxes for delivery to its restaurant clients. It also sells to schools and hospitals. At one of the restaurants – State Grill and Bar, at 21 West 33rd Street, in the Empire State Building – the chef, Morgan Jarrett, made four dishes with ingredients from Afterlife Ag, starting with a mousse made from pink oyster mushrooms and black king trumpet mushrooms, topped by jangajji, a type of pickled mushroom.

Note: This article is also available here. Explore more positive stories like this on reimagining the economy and healing the Earth.

Important Note: Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news stories on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.