Why it matters: A look at the scientific breakthroughs changing the world, explorations in space and in worlds beyond our own and the threats posed to us by our own planet, both out of our control and of our own making.
The Hubble Space Telescope drifts through space in a picture taken from the Space Shuttle Discovery during Hubble's second servicing mission in 1997. Photo: NASA via Getty Images
Starting Tuesday, the Hubble Space Telescope will pass almost directly over St. Petersburg several nights this week.
What to look for: Heavens Above, a nonprofit satellite prediction site, says the HST will look like a bright star slowly moving from west to east.
A partial animation of the evolution of effluent discharge from the Piney Point fertilizer plant. The full animation from USF's Ocean Circulation Lab can be seen here. Credit: University of South Florida, College of Marine Science, Ocean Circulation Lab.
A sweeping new study of the last crushing red tide bloom in 2018-19 suggests Tampa Bay counties should make emergency response plans and work together to clean up and offset losses.
Why it matters: That red tide created mounds of rotting fish, killed dolphins and manatees, and emptied beaches and hotels across the area.
Ingenuity on the surface of Mars, filmed by NASA's Perseverance rover. Photo: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA successfully piloted the Ingenuity Mars helicopter for its first experimental flight on Monday, briefly hovering the aircraft as NASA's Perseverance rover collected data.
Why it matters: Ingenuity's short flight marks the first time a human-built aircraft has flown on a world other than Earth, opening the door to new means of exploring planets far from our own.
A screenshot of former NBA stars Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley and former President Obama on the NBC special. Photo: NBC
Former President Obama and NBA greats Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal joined forces to urge communities of color and young people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 during an NBC special on inoculations, broadcast Sunday.
Why it matters: People of color have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. Obama noted during the broadcast that with underlying, pre-existing health conditions being more prevalent in communities of color "we're more vulnerable" to the virus.
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire in the Jagger Library, at the University of Cape Town, after a forest fire came down the foothills of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, on Sunday. Photo: Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images
A massive wildfire spread from the foothills of Table Mountain to the University of Cape Town Sunday, burning historic South African buildings and forcing the evacuation of 4,000 students, per Times Live.
The big picture: Visitors to the Table Mountain National Park and other nearby attractions were also evacuated and several roads, including a major highway, were closed. South Africa's oldest working windmill and the university's Jagger Library, which houses South African antiquities, were among the buildings damaged.