How is it that knots are formed all around us so easily and achieving such complexity? Why do knots form with electric cords, string, christmas lights, etc.? Researchers are looking into knot theory and topology to explain the importance of knots and their existence in our world. From Science News…
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¿Cómo es que hay nudos formándose alrededor de nosotros todo el tiempo y con tanta facilidad y al mismo tiempo adquieren tanta complejidad? ¿Porqué se forman nudos en los cables eléctricos, hilos y luces navideñas? Investigadores de teorías de nudos y topología intentan explicar la importancia de el nudo y su existencia en nuestro mundo. De Science News

“Call it Murphy’s Law of knots: If something can get tangled up, it will. “Anything that’s long and flexible seems to somehow end up knotted,” says Andrew Belmonte, an applied mathematician at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. Belmonte has plenty of alarming anecdotal evidence. “It certainly happens in my house, with the cords of the venetian blind.” But the knot scourge is a global one, as anyone who owns a desktop computer can confirm after peeking at the mess of connection cables and power cords behind the desk.

Now, scientists think they may have found out how and why things find their way into knotty arrangements. By tumbling a string of rope inside a box, biophysicists Dorian Raymer and Douglas Smith have discovered that knots—even complex knots—form surprisingly fast and often. The string first coils up, and then its free ends swivel around the other coils, tracing a random path among them. That essentially makes the coils into a braid, producing knots, the scientists say.

The results’ relevance may go well beyond explaining the epidemic of tangled venetian blind cords. That’s because spontaneous knots seem to be prevalent in nature, especially in biological molecules…

SCIENCE NEWS

Part of an interview by Charlie Rose to Stephen Wolfram regarding cellular automata, starts around minute 14:30
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Una entrevista de Charlie Rose a Stephen Wolfram con comentario sobre autómatas celulares, comienza alrededor del minuto 14:30

His webpage:
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Su página:
wolfram.com