Capturing the Polar Vortex

Vibrating panties, Nendo's chopsticks, ancient brewers and more in our look at the web this week

Unless you were able to experience it in person, it’s tough to describe what it feels like to be trapped in a weather system that broke free of the Arctic. But these 14 photographs just about do the trick. Whether of a Spiderman-clad runner jogging in polar vortex temperatures or of arctic sea smoke rising off of Chicago’s Lake Michigan, the images captured effectively drive …

Tricycling to the South Pole

Stylish toking, coffee with Louis C.K., neuromorphic computer chips and more in our weekly look at the web

Three wheels, 400 miles, ice crevasses and Antarctic weather (meaning 50 mph winds)—these are the conditions that 35-year-old Maria Leijerstam of Great Britain will face as she pedals with two other traditional cyclists from Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica to the South Pole, potentially setting a record for the first trike to ever reach the South Pole. Check out the recumbent trike’s specs in the …

A Truly Smarter Computer

Stylish toking, coffee with Louis C.K., neuromorphic computer chips and more in our weekly look at the web

As it stands, 2014 may become the year for one of computing technology’s greatest feats: Computer chips that learn from their mistakes. The new brain-like commercial chips offer the greatest advancement in areas of robotics, navigation, speech and facial recognition—all programming challenges that rely mainly on extensive human programming. While traditionally built with confined functions and clearly defined parameters, the new “neuromorphic processors” will call …