■ In the Utah desert, a mysterious monolith appeared as if from nowhere — then vanished, in an undercover nighttime removal operation, before reappearing all over the world. (They’re surprisingly easy to build yourself, it turns out.) Four California men have taken responsibility for the initial structure, but a few questions remain.

■ National economies collapse; species go extinct; political movements rise and fizzle. But — somehow, for some reason — Weird Al Yankovic keeps rocking.

■ Strange couplings: When your ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend is Lady Gaga. Or when you’re the sociopath your husband married.

■ 20 writers reflected on quitting — walking away from jobs, relationships, religion and even the assignment itself.

■ A Siberian delicacy: Russia’s Indigenous fishers and reindeer herders have long snacked on raw, thinly shaved, frozen fish and meat.

■ A self-published cookbook about pickles has become a cult classic in India.

■ Japan’s skateboarders, frequently shunned, hope that Olympic success (now pushed back to 2021) may lead to acceptance.

■ In the past three years, female runners have gotten a lot faster.

■ Actors, authors and other creators who are part of a new African-American vanguard defining the century talked about the art that inspired them.

■ Here lies the skull of Pliny the Elder, maybe.

■ What happened when a 16-year-old bridge player asked an 82-year-old — one of the greatest players ever — to team up with him for a tournament.

■ As the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg offered pointed and powerful dissenting opinions that earned her late-life rock stardom. Here’s her obituary, and her life in pictures.

■ Kobe Bryant, the retired Los Angeles Lakers basketball star who was one of the greatest to play the game.

■ Chadwick Boseman, the regal actor who embodied a long-held dream of African-American moviegoers as the star of the groundbreaking superhero film “Black Panther.”

■ Bill Withers, the three-time Grammy Award winner whose songs turned the loves, struggles, regrets and joys of working people into art. Here’s our critic’s appraisal of the artist, and a video of him performing “Grandma’s Hands.”

■ Tony Hsieh, the technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist who built the shoe and clothing retailer Zappos into a $1 billion internet powerhouse.

■ Caramelized! Shallot! Pasta!

■ Staving off trips to the grocery, you found endless uses for canned beans — simmered in red wine, or fashioned into cakes, or whizzed up into a soup as beautiful as any painting.

■ A British pastry chef’s perfect chocolate chip cookie.

■ This classic, for when only a Bloody Mary (or a Virgin Mary) will do.

■ Samin Nosrat wanted to make lasagna with readers, and you gamely rose to the challenge. One participant’s verdict: “We will be eating like kings for a couple of days. Probably should break out the treadmill.”