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 …

Antarctic Anemone

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

A new species of sea anemones has been discovered, establishing it as the only marine animal able to live while embedded in Antarctic ice sheets. Edwardsiella andrillae—as they’ve been named—burrow inside the Ross Ice Shelf, letting only their tentacles dangle freely in the water. It’s still unclear how they nestle in, reproduce and most importantly, how they do not freeze. That aside, the white anemones …