A Lovely Animation of the Planet's Hot-Weather 'Misery'

You got to give it up for Cameron Beccario for making one of history's most beautiful simulations of the earth's winds. But rather than sit back and lavish in the attention it's generated—including snagging him a cameo on Asian TV—he's been adding more data layers to the model, including a new one he calls the "misery index."

The M.I. "combines wind chill and heat index to show what the air feels like," says the Tokyo-based data artist. In other words, it takes into account how a high relative humidity can make your skin feel like it's covered by a boiling-hot towelette, and how brisk winds in the colder months can blow away all body warmth and make it seem like somebody threw you in an ice chest.