Thank heaven for the scientists

SouthernN'Proud

SouthernN'Proud

Southern Discomfort
So y'all will know this is really true and such

Tangled telephone cords and electronic cables that come to resemble bird nests can frazzle even the most stoic person. Now researchers have unraveled the mystery behind how such knots form.

Two physicists used string-tumbling experiments and mathematical models to create a step-by-step recipe for knot formation and determined which factors cause the knottiest knots. Their research, published online this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sheds light on an everyday phenomenon about which little was known beyond the madness it incites.

"It's a common annoyance in everyday life, that anything that's like a string inevitably seems to get itself into a knot,” said the study's senior author Douglas Smith of the University of California, San Diego.

He added, “Very little experimental work had been done to apply knot theory to the analysis and classification of real, physical knots."
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Starvation. Disease. "Global warming" for the love of bacon bits. Alternative energy forms. Greenhouse gases. And not to be overlooked....knots.

Thank you science. I will certainly rest easier knowing your best and brightest are hard at work on the pressing issues facing mankind. Curing cancer can't hold a light to this. Can we get a few billion more in government funding for these brave pioneers? Do I smell a Nobel prize? Monuments and statues shall most assuredly be erected in the honor of these groundbreaking geniuses who dare to push the envelope of...knot theory...and forge a new path into...the analysis and classification of real, physical knots...

Hey, at least they're not spending their time and my money trying to disprove creationism. One point in favor of these (sorry Inky...) knotheads.

I heart science...:grinno:
 
Do you just want us to stop learning about what makes the world tick or summit? I for one found this a fascinating read you big party pooper. *handonhip
 
Well, the knots problem is the one that you listed that directly affects me right now... :D
 
Knot theory will help scientist to make a better superstring theory.
 
what if knot theory is the first step in a process that will yield the cure for cancer/global warming/world peace/[insert suposedly mightier cause here]?

all science is important. science is in EVERYTHING. if it means better understanding the world around us, i don't think this knot theory science is any less important than any other kind.
 
Inkara1 said:
Well, the knots problem is the one that you listed that directly affects me right now... :D
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see? inky may never go hungry. he may never suffer from any diseases. but the entanglement of his cords and cables IS affecting him, right now! and if science could tell him how to solve this problem, i am positive that he would gladly use it to its full advantage!
and yet you say it's not useful!
 
Three strings walk into a bar. The bartender throws them out, yelling "Can't you read the sign?! I don't serve strings."

The strings try again, and again the bartender kicks them out.

Finally, one of the strings gets the idea to mess himself up a little. He walks into the bar.

The bartender scowls, "What's wrong with you? Can't you read? I don't serve strings!" The string replies, "I'm a frayed knot!"
 
BeardofPants said:
Do you just want us to stop learning about what makes the world tick or summit? I for one found this a fascinating read you big party pooper. *handonhip
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No. Just stop wasting my money on
string-tumbling experiments and mathematical models to create a step-by-step recipe for knot formation and determined which factors cause the knottiest knots
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and go buy a $1.99 pack of zip ties.
 
If your headphone cord is tangled up with the rest of your stereo cords, you have bigger problems than science can solve.
 
Those don't work so well for a long car trip... which is where my headphones would get tangled up anyway. Home hasn't presented much of a problem with tangled headphone cords yet.
 
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