There have been many no-hitters in Major League Baseball history, but the one that Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox pitched against the Kansas City Royals this week was truly a special one. He pulled off the feat less than two years after being successfully treated with chemotherapy for a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Lester, 24, is also the first Red Sox southpaw to pitch a no-­hitter since Mel Parnell did it in 1956. “It was a long road back,” he said. “I’m just glad that I’m here at this moment right now, and in five days I’ll go pitch again.”

After five years of planning and tinkering, a Swiss pilot last week conquered the skies in his own personal jet-powered wing. As an awed crowd looked on, Yves Rossy stepped out of an airplane 7,500 feet above the Alps, activated the four turbines strapped to the device on his back, and zoomed to 186 mph. For six minutes he banked and turned, performed figure eights, and finished up with a perfect 360-degree roll. Rossy spent more than $285,000 perfecting his wing, and he hopes to eventually market it widely. “Physically, it’s absolutely no stress,” he said. “It’s like being on a motorbike.”

Alanna McCauley of Queens, N.Y., began kindergarten in 1995. When she reached the sixth grade, her mother noticed that she had yet to miss a day of school. As the years went by, Alanna made a point of keeping up her unbroken streak, going to class despite blizzards, sore throats, stomach aches, and even a death in the family. Now she is graduating from St. Mary’s High School in Manhasset, N.Y., still with a perfect attendance record. “It is kind of weird, I guess,” she said, “but I guess it’s a big accomplishment.”