Alejandro González Iñárritu showed off two of his three Oscars for ?Birdman.?

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Alejandro González Iñárritu showed off two of his three Oscars for ?Birdman.?

Mike Blake/Reuters

Eddie Redmayne took the stage to accept the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in ?The Theory of Everything.?

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

Lady Gaga performed songs from ?The Sound of Music.?

Mike Blake/Reuters

Common (left) and John Legend performed ?Glory? from the film ?Selma,? which won Best Original Song.

John Shearer/Invision/AP

Meryl Streep presented the in-memoriam tribute.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Tegan and Sara and The Lonely Island performed ?Everything Is Awesome? from ?The LEGO Movie.?

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

Patricia Arquette accepted the award for Best Supporting Actress.

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

J.K. Simmons gave his acceptance speech after winning Best Supporting Actor.

Mike Blake/Reuters

Host Neil Patrick Harris opened the 87th Academy Awards tonight at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

?Birdman? takes flight at Oscars

Films that touched the heart faced off against movies that swaggered with craft, and the Oscars went for craft.

Neil Patrick Harris and Anna Kendrick.

Harris turns on the charm, takes off his pants

Neil Patrick Harris is a pro at hosting, and it showed during the ABC telecast in his endlessly relaxed and open energy.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/02/23/BostonGlobe.com/Arts/Images/jones2--90x90.jpg On Oscar red carpet, white takes the night

Contrary to the experiences of weather-weary Bostonians this last month, Sunday night?s Oscar Awards made a strong case for the snowy shade.

The Great Barrington Historical Society & Museum is shown on Wednesday, February 18, 2015. The Historical Society has decided to officially recognize Thomas Reed's alien abduction account as a real event and will preserve and protect papers and artifacts associated with the account. (Matthew Cavanaugh for The Boston Globe)

A UFO story lands in a hall of history

The Great Barrington Historical Society & Museum has accepted a local family?s account of encountering aliens in the 1960s.

New dashboard systems to let smartphones run a vehicle?s screen include Android Auto (left) by Google and CarPlay, which Apple developed for iPhone users.

Google and Apple vying for your dashboard

After years of being treated as an interesting side business, autos have become the latest obsession for Silicon Valley.

Educators say students need to learn how court-ordered desegregation divided the city and affected race relations.

Charles Dixon/Globe Staff/File 1974

City?s busing history to be taught in schools

Decades after school desegregation roiled Boston, the city?s curriculum has been revised to include the troubled legacy.

A member of the Boston police drug control unit directed traffic at Summer Street and Atlantic Avenue last week.

Snow presses Boston police officers into service on all fronts

The recent snow has made officers take on additional duties, like when members of the drug control and gang units were called in to direct traffic.

Snowbanks in South Boston made navigating roads difficult for both pedestrians and vehicles.

When will winter stop?

New England will probably see temperatures substantially below normal in March.

Governor Charlie Baker waited for the start of a special session of the National Governors Winter Meeting.

In Washington, Charlie Baker is snow man

When it started to snow during the winter meeting of the the National Governors Association, Charlie Baker was barraged by ribbing.

Fort Myers, FL - 02/21/15 - Boston Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval (48) during a batting practice session.Red Sox Spring Training. (Barry Chin/Globe Staff), Section: Sports, Reporter: Peter Abraham, Topic: 22Red Sox, LOID: 8.0.2717390732. Credit: Barry Chin/Globe Staff

DAN SHAUGHNESSY

Leave Red Sox? Pablo Sandoval alone about his weight

He?ll rake as your third baseman, so Boston fans need to accept this guy.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/02/21/BostonGlobe.com/BCOM/Images/2015-01-21T205246Z_767652837_GM1EB1M0DC301_RTRMADP_3_OLYMPICS-USA-BOSTON-2195.jpg Olympic finances need city pledge

The guarantee requires Boston and its taxpayers to step in should the plan for a privately funded Olympics falter.

 Bettina Burr with a 1925 portrait of her grandmother Clarice de Rothschild by the artist de Laszlo, which will be shown at the MFA.

Nazi-looted Rothschild art goes to MFA

The gift, valued in the millions, is rich in European decorative arts, prints, drawings, and rare books.

Success in school linked to summer learning

An ongoing study suggests learning loss during the summer is greater for children from low-income families.

The Big Picture

Alejandro Bolivar/EPA

Carnival and Mardi Gras celebrations

Pre-Lenten celebrations around the globe wrapped up earlier this week before the marking of Ash Wednesday.