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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Editor's Note: This article was provided by Inside Science. The original is here. (Inside Science) – Knots are everywhere, from laces of shoes to stitches that seal cuts. Sailors and others have known ...

Deciding whether a knot is fit to be tied just got a bit more scientific. Some knots are stronger than others, but scientists have struggled to explain why. Now, with the help of color-changing fibers ...

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 ...

Not surprisingly, knot theory is a complicated business. For instance, the common knots encountered in daily life are not even considered to be knots by mathematicians. A tied shoelace is not knotted, ...

What’s slice? It’s the umbrella term for two properties that this kind of mathematical knot can have. And a mathematical knot is a whole major field of study unto itself, inspired by regular knots ...