The Saturday Morning Newsletter #62
AI Adoption Moves at the Speed of Trust, Trump’s Casino Economy, and Launching 4,000 Space Mirrors
This Week I’m Tracking: 15 developments across the sectors shaping our future
Reading Time: 5 minutes of curated insights
Your weekly pulse check: The most important events in venture capital, energy, space, economics, intellectual property, philosophy, and more. I distill the most important developments across sectors I track, saving you hours of research while keeping you ahead of the curve.
New to these updates? They pair with our bi-weekly Brainwave analyses for comprehensive sector coverage. Wednesday’s deep dive explored a guest post on authorship vs. ownership - catch up here.
Let’s dive in.
#1: Coolant
Description: Coolant is a developer of 3D models of Earth.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Coolant recently raised $4.3M in venture capital funding. Coolant is deploying LIDAR technology to accurately model the Earth’s surface. They are tracking precise elevations and terrains, and can model with next-gen precision. Using drone technology, they can monitor carbon sequestration in real time.
#2: Stardust
Description: Stardust is developing sunlight reflection technology.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Stardust recently raised $60M in venture capital funding. Stardust is developing a revolutionary starlight reflection technology. The science works as follows: fine, naturally occurring particles are launched into the atmosphere, reflecting light back out into space, providing a cooling mechanism for the Earth to combat the rise of global warming. Slowly, these particles fall back to the surface harmlessly.
#3: Seneca
Description: Seneca builds firefighting drones.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Seneca recently raised $60M in venture capital funding. Seneca is designing drones capable of fighting fires. They run on an autonomous system, capable of providing rapid response to threats, packed with fire suppression materials to deploy in key areas, stopping fires at the source.
#4: Frontline Wildfire Defense
Description: Frontline Wildfire Defense is a producer of fire sprinklers and detection products.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Frontline Wildfire Defense recently raised $48M in venture capital funding. Frontline Wildfire Defense is helping homeowners defend their properties against wildfires by combining proprietary hardware with powerful software capabilities. The software monitors fires and deploys the hardware when a fire is within 7 miles. The system soaks your home with water and fire-resistant foam, creating an incredibly fire-resistant environment.
Description: Redwood Materials recycles and repurposes EV batteries for energy storage.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Redwood Materials recently raised $350M in venture capital funding. Redwood Materials is recycling end-of-life batteries to recover lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, and other critical materials. This helps create a sustainable cycle of energy storage domestically, further securing supply chains and energy resources for the future.
Reuters: US Offers Nuclear Companies Access to Plutonium
The U.S. Department of Energy has released information regarding the potential for companies to apply to seek up to 19 megatons of the government’s weapons-grade plutonium for nuclear energy use. The contracts are expected to be awarded by year’s end.
The New York Times: Bill Gates Says Climate Change Will Not Lead to Humanity’s Demise
Bill Gates released a memo this week to slow down some of the alarmism many people use to describe the effects of rising temperatures (what he calls a “doomsday outlook”). Now, the memo wasn’t fully away from the main message he’s been commanding for decades. Bill wrote, “Although climate change will have serious consequences – particularly for people in the poorest countries – it will not lead to humanity’s demise.”
The New York Times: Chocolate May Be Missing From Your Chocolate Bar
Global warming has led to a drought in West Africa, sending cocoa prices through the roof. This has led many manufacturers to change from products branded as “milk chocolate” to “chocolate candy”. Recipes have been reformulated to replace expensive cocoa butter with other fats, failing to meet the regulatory definition of milk chocolate.
The New York Times: Spraying Roundup on Crops Is Fine
Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide and is the target of many political battles. There is overwhelming evidence that GMOs are safe. Additionally, research has found that glyphosate is one of the most benign forms of weed control. You shouldn’t worry about eating food made from crops sprayed with it.
Space: Plan to Launch 4,000 Space Mirrors
Reflect Orbital recently applied for a government license to launch the first of up to 4,000 giant mirrors into space next year. These are satellites that will expand into 60’ x 60’ mirrors to direct sunlight down to targets on Earth. Scientists are concerned about the effects of light pollution from these sources and have warned the FCC.
Pitchbook: Top 100 Most Valuable VC-Backed Startups
Large, privately backed companies are waiting longer and longer to go public, steadily growing bigger over time. Pitchbook details the top 100 global companies, each above $10B estimated valuation, that are still private. You’ll know a decent portion of this list (especially the top 5 or so).
The New York Times: It’s Trump’s Casino Economy Now. You’ll Probably Lose
This guest writer compares the American economy to a casino, where everything is built on speculation and risk. Over the last two years, especially, there has been widespread speculation that the market will crash; however, it hasn’t yet. Wagers are continually made using other people’s money, leading some to draw parallels to the pre-2008 crash period.
IP Watchdog: AI Adoption Moves at the Speed of Trust
I love how the article starts with a great callout for modern IP:
The value of intellectual property (IP) rights has decreased in the United States over the past 20 years because large tech companies consider patents and copyrights an enemy, not an ally, and because of the difficulty SMEs and independent creators have in generating sufficient economic return.
The Guardian: Critical Thinking is One of the Most Important Aspects of Being Human
Brigid Delaney writes a piece on her new book, The Seeker and the Sage, which discusses how the Stoic philosophy applies to modern life. As she relates it, this philosophy enables us to think critically in an age dominated by uncertainty and anxiety. We can decide for ourselves how much decision-making we want to retain and have power over our choices.
A guide, posted on Reddit this week, states that from age 18 to 55, you should know these things:
Health is your real wealth—protect it early.
Time moves fast—don’t waste it proving things to people.
Skills pay more than degrees—keep learning.
Friends come and go—family is forever.
Save money when you don’t need it—you’ll thank yourself later.
Choose peace over drama—it’s not worth your energy.
Your daily habits shape your future, not motivation.
The world owes you nothing—work for what you want.
Learn to say no—it’s a superpower.
Mental health is just as important as physical health.
Nobody is thinking about you as much as you think.
Never stop growing—age doesn’t mean stop evolving.
Most people in the comments were arguing about #4, but the rest seem to hold a bit of truth. This is far from the most perfect guide on the subject, but it is good to help provoke thoughts about what you do and don’t have in your life, where you are prioritizing, and where you should maybe reconsider.
That’s a wrap on this week’s roundup.
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Drew Jackson
Founder & Writer
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Thanks for writing this, it clarifies alot. I really appreciate you distilling these complex developments. It's so important to track these innovations. Companies like Stardust are truely ambitious. While the sunlight reflection idea seems a bit sci-fi, it's fascinating to see what's being funded to tackle climate change. Very insightful.