I can’t get this data visualisation out of my mind. It’s both magical and disturbing to watch a human heart beat (even more so if you open your laptop to compile the Weekly Filet only to see «heartrate undefined bpm»).

Say you’re given a sequence of 20 random numbers and are tasked with sorting them from lowest to highest. How do you do that? There are quite a number of strategies. You could divide them into groups and refine as you go. Or you could always compare two adjacent numbers and put the lower of the two to the left. And so on. Computers have to do sorting operations all the time. Data visualisation designer Carlo Zapponi has found a fascinating way to illustrate how different sorting algorithms work (and how they compare in efficiency). Sounds a bit dull? Have a look for yourself and discover that it really isn’t.

Like no other: A visualisation of the world’s population, inspired by Joy Division’s iconic «Unknown Pleasures» cover.

Beautiful visualisations of the weather in 35 cities around the globe, day by day.

And for an entertaining challenge: 100 famous movie quotes as charts. It will feel like this: *gazesandthinkshard* – «Ha, that’s a great one!»

The most beautiful thing on the web right now: All the world’s winds, visualised in realtime. It looks like a Van Gogh in the making.

A great collection of infographics and data visualisations from 2013. The one about the most contested Wikipedia articles is my favourite.

The very best of data visualisation and information design. The 2013 winners of the «Information is Beautiful Awards» have been announced. If you have the time, have a look at the shortlist and the longlist, too, if only to see how high the standards were.

And now for the best news of the week: «Wasting time, they say, can make you more creative. Even seemingly meaningless activities such as watching cat videos on YouTube may help you solve math problems.»