Color-changing fibers are helping scientists to understand, for the first time, the exact ways some knots hold tighter than others. In 2018, researchers developed pressure-sensitive fibers in part to ...

MIT researchers develop a mathematical model to predict a knot’s stability with the help of color-changing fibers. Photo by Joseph Sandt Knots are some of the oldest and most-used technologies that ...

You may not have heard of knot theory. But take it from Bill Menasco, a knot theorist of 35 years: This field of mathematics, rich in aesthetic beauty and intellectual challenges, has come a long way ...

Several University of Texas at Austin mathematics faculty, including an incoming assistant professor, have seen their work spotlighted in the science publication Quanta in recent weeks. Distinct in 3D ...

Researchers wanted to understand precisely how blackworms execute tangling and ultrafast untangling movements for a myriad of biological functions. They researched the topology of the tangles. Their ...

The following is an extract from our Lost in Space-Time newsletter. Each month, we hand over the keyboard to a physicist or mathematician to tell you about fascinating ideas from their corner of the ...

Mathematicians have studied knots for centuries, but a new material is showing why some knots are better than others. One sunny day last summer, Mathias Kolle, a professor at the Massachusetts ...

The 1990 Fields Medals, mathematics' most prestigious international awards, were announced on August 21 in Kyoto, Japan, at the International Congress of Mathematicians. Four mathematicians received ...

For over 50 years, mathematicians have argued over the nature of a complex knot. The tangled problem, known as Conway’s knot, is so fabled among mathematicians that a depiction of the knot even graces ...