Week in Review: Brazil, NASA, and the Red Sox

Photo from ABC7

The Week in Review was written by Jake Whitfield

1.       The Brazilian presidential election on Tuesday placed the government in the hands of Jair Bolsonaro and his Social Liberal Party. On Thursday, Bolsonaro announced that he would be moving the Brazilian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The Social Liberal Party is focused on coming down hard on crime, after record 63,880 homicides last year, and “draining Brazil’s swamp.” Following Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency, it seems that the nationalist shift in world politics is still not over.  You can read more here.

2.       Nine and a half years after the launching of NASA’s Kepler planet-hunting telescope, its fuel supply has run out and it will be left to the mercy of the universe. The car-sized telescope has been searching for other planets and signs of life. While the spacecraft has finished its mission, NASA has yet to receive and analyze all of its findings. NASA already has the Kepler’s replacement in space. TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) was launched in April and more planet searching probes are on the way.

3.       The Red Sox won their fourth World Series since ending their 86-year drought in 2004. First-baseman Steve Pearce was awarded MVP after his three home runs helped the Sox beat the Dodgers four games to one. Perhaps the greatest highlight came after the Sox had won, when they celebrated their win with a $195K tip at their afterparty. The low-light was, as Hayley Glatter writes in The Atlantic, low ratings for World Series games and capping a season with the lowest attendance in 14 years. It will be interesting to see what the MLB will do this offseason to help their ratings.