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 ...

A piece of string can be tied into different knots, some with distinctive properties that can be exploited for different functions from shoelaces to nooses, hitches, bends and stopper knots. Some of ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. In 1876, Peter Guthrie Tait set out to measure what he called the “beknottedness” of knots. The Scottish mathematician, whose research ...

As chemists tie the most complicated molecular knot yet, biophysicists create a “periodic table” that describes what kinds of knots are possible. The world is tied up in knots. They form spontaneously ...