👋 Hello friends,

Thank you for joining this week's edition of The Saturday Morning Newsletter. I'm Drew Jackson, and today we're exploring 12 articles, essays, companies, ideas, podcasts, videos, or thoughts that caught my attention this week for their potential to significantly impact our future.

Before we begin: The Saturday Morning Newsletter by Brainwaves arrives in your inbox every Saturday, a concise and casual digest of current events, optimistic news stories, and other interesting tidbits about venture capital, economics, space, energy, intellectual property, philosophy, and beyond. I write as a curious explorer rather than an expert, and I value your insights and perspectives on each subject.

Time to Read: 5 minutes.

Let’s dive in!

---

#1: Impulse Space

Description: Impulse Space is an in-space mobility startup.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Impulse Space recently raised $300M in venture capital funding. Since its founding in 2021, Impulse Space has built and flown Mira (a space vehicle for payload hosting and deployment), secured 30+ commercial and government contracts, and launched a roadmap for a customizable space rideshare program (debuting in 2027).

#2: Jua

Description: Jua is an AI platform for weather forecasting.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Jua recently raised $11M in venture capital funding. Their model uses physics to build an accurate picture of the planet. Energy traders can see the future of weather, the energy system, and the energy market more accurately than their competitors. As they claim, “this technology will change civilization as we know it.”

#3: TAE Technologies

Description: TAE Technologies is a developer of fusion reactors.

Why Is This Company Interesting? TAE Technologies recently raised $150M in venture capital funding. Their goal is to bring sustainable and economically competitive energy to the grid. Their approach is a hydrogen-boron mix in a compact linear design, a design that they hope will make it to market before other major fusion companies.

#4: Space Forge

Description: Space Forge is a startup making wafer materials in space.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Space Forge recently raised $23M in venture capital funding. Space Forge is unlocking the ability to manufacture materials in space that aren’t possible to manufacture here on Earth. These materials have applications in semiconductors, quantum computing, clean energy, defense, and more.

#5: Kumulus Water

Description: Kumulus Water is a developer of solar-powered atmospheric water generators.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Kumulus Water recently raised $3.5M in venture capital funding. Kumulus’s product provides drinking water in a more sustainable and economical way than traditional clean water processes. Their products are easy to use, digitally connected, and can revolutionize access to drinking water.

Atlantic Council: Dissecting Trump’s Nuclear Executive Orders

As discussed in last week’s issue, Trump recently signed 4 executive orders targeted at nuclear energy. Here’s the breakdown of the main points (there’s a lot of detail in the article if you’re interested):

• New reactors and national security
• Changes to the NRC
• The question of new testing
• The broader nuclear base

IEEE Spectrum: Reducing Bird Deaths Through Black Paint

A new research study found that painting one of the wind turbine blades black could reduce bird deaths via collisions by ~70%. It takes a lot of time and cost to get someone up to an existing turbine to paint it, but it may be a necessary addition to wind turbine safety protocols.

New York Times: More Rain & Water Needed

A new study has dubbed the term “atmospheric thirst”, a factor that explains why climate change has made our droughts more frequent and more intense. Droughts happen when there’s an imbalance between water supply and demand. A thirsty atmosphere continues to cause more of these imbalances.

Pitchbook: Venture Capitalists In A New Era

Many venture capitalists are figuring out they need to go back to the basics: finding new talent and/or new relationships, showcasing their worth isn’t just picking the next big winners (usually AI companies now). New relationships with investors and companies must be formed or modified.

Real Clear Health: IP And Healthcare

Intellectual property laws help promote medical discoveries made in American labs. One key example of a policy aimed at this was the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which empowered universities to retain patent rights to federally funded research. This enabled more healthcare commercialization and private-public research partnerships.

University of Cincinnati: Americans Do Not Like Mass Incarceration

A new study published in the Journal of Experimental Criminology found that most Americans favor community programs for nonviolent and drug offenders as opposed to prison sentences. Most favor using tax money on preventative programs rather than prisons. The prison movement has lost traction in the U.S., potentially opening the door for more reform.

Philosophy Break: Martha Nussbaum on Living a Flourishing Human Life

“With her famous ‘capabilities approach’, the philosopher Martha Nussbaum argues that wealth and satisfaction are very limited measures of the good life; instead, she offers 10 essential capabilities by which to judge if someone can live a full, flourishing human life.”

Here are the 10:

• Life. The ability to live a life of typical human length, without having it cut short or diminished to a state not worth living.
• Bodily Health. The opportunity to maintain good physical health, including access to reproductive care, adequate nutrition, and safe housing.
• Bodily Integrity. The freedom to move freely from place to place and to have control over one’s own body.
• Senses, Imagination, and Thought. The capacity to use one’s senses, imagination, and intellect in a ‘truly human way’ — supported by adequate education. This includes freedom of expression, religious practice, artistic creation, and the ability to seek meaning and pleasure in life without fear or undue pain.
• Emotions. The ability to form attachments and experience a full range of human emotions: loving others, grieving losses, feeling justifiable anger, etc.
• Practical Reason. The capacity to form and critically reflect on one’s own values, and to make meaningful life decisions based on that reflection.
• Affiliation. The ability to engage in loving, meaningful, and respectful relationships — showing empathy, compassion, and a sense of justice and friendship — supported by institutions that foster social connection.
• Other Species. The capacity to engage with, care for, and live harmoniously alongside animals, plants, and the natural environment.
• Play. The opportunity to enjoy leisure, have fun, laugh, and participate in recreational activities.
• Control Over One’s Environment. Political: the ability to actively participate in political life, including the rights to free speech, association, and democratic engagement. Material: the real opportunity to own property, seek employment on equal terms, and be protected from unjust interference, such as unwarranted searches or seizures.

Honestly, I think this is a pretty solid approach here - I would recommend this article.

See you Wednesday for Brainwaves,

Drew Jackson

Twitter: @brainwavesdotme

Email: brainwaves.me@gmail.com

Submit any interesting articles/links for The Saturday Morning Newsletter here.

Thank you for reading The Saturday Morning Newsletter by Brainwaves. Please ask your friends, colleagues, and family members to sign up.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this content are my own and do not represent the views of any of the companies I currently work for or have previously worked for. This content does not contain financial advice - it is for informational and educational purposes only. Investing contains risks and readers should conduct their own due diligence and/or consult a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Any sponsorship or endorsements are noted and do not affect any editorial content produced.