Sure, knot theory is an interesting subject with a storied past, and self-avoiding walk theory takes it a bit further in describing real-world ropes, lines and wires, but can it be usefully applied to the knotty problem of spontaneously forming tangles? Robert Matthews of Aston University has suggested that there's a simple solution to avoiding tangles in all our computer cables, headphone cords and Vectran cored double braid halyard lines: make them into loops [pdf]. It's plausible, but not proven. Enter The Great British Knot Experiment which aims to provide "compelling empirical evidence to support the Loop Conjecture – and thus for its role in solving one of life's little irritations." [more inside]
posted by HE Amb. T. S. L. DuVal on Jun 15, 2010 - 36 comments

"The only hope for peace is to teach people who are full of pep and unbound force to enjoy being bound... Only when the control of self by others is more pleasant than the unbound assertion of self in human relationships can we hope for stable, peaceful human society." William Moulton Marston, the quirky psychologist who created Wonder Woman, had a bondage thing. He also had a PhD from Harvard, lived in an openly polyamorous relationship -- with one wife, one mistress, and four kids -- and invented the precursor to the lie detector (more at /. and of course, youtube).
posted by jessamyn on Jan 3, 2007 - 13 comments