Brunnian links are a type of nontrivial link – or knot – where multiple linked loops become unlinked if a single loop is cut or removed. Beyond ‘fun’ disentanglement toys and a tantalizing subject of academic papers on knot theory, it can also be used for practical applications, as demonstrated by [Anthony Francis-Jones] in a […]
We are deeply intuitively familiar with our everyday physical world, so it was perhaps a bit of a surprise when researchers discovered a blind spot in our intuitive physical reasoning: it seems humans are oddly terrible at judging knot strength. One example is the reef knot (top) vs. the grief knot (bottom). One is considerably […]