Knot theory, a branch of topology, examines the intricate properties of closed curves embedded in three-dimensional space. At its core is the study of knot invariants—quantitative measures that remain ...

When Lisa Piccirillo solved a decades-old mystery about the “Conway knot,” she had to overcome the knot’s uncanny ability to hoodwink some of the most powerful tools mathematicians have devised. Known ...

Knot theory, a branch of topology dedicated to the study of embeddings of circles in three-dimensional space, intersects deeply with homotopy theory—the study of continuous deformations between ...

From proteins to DNA, knotted structures are present in many vital molecules. Understanding what these knots do is difficult because our best theories still struggle to tell complex knots apart. But, ...

Q: When is a knot not a knot? A: When it's a quantum computer. Steve Simon explains how a remarkable link between knot theory and certain quantum systems may be useful for quantum information ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Find a string. Really. Do it. Now twist, tie and tangle it as much as you like. Finally, attach the two loose ends of your string ...

Sometimes, a simple, even childish question turns out to be connected to the deepest secrets of the universe. Here’s one: How many different ways can you tie your shoelaces? Mathematicians have been ...

AI software has collaborated with mathematicians to successfully develop a theorem about the structure of knots, but the suggestions given by the code were so unintuitive that they were initially ...