Topology

Mathematicians have disproved a major conjecture about the relationship between curvature and shape.

Topologists prove two new results that bring some order to the confoundingly difficult study of four-dimensional shapes.

Mathematicians are using topological abstractions to find places where it’s hard to vote.

This past October, dozens of mathematicians gathered in Pasadena to create the third version of “Kirby’s list” — a compendium of the most important unsolved problems in the field.

The surprisingly subtle geometry of a familiar game shows how quickly math gets complicated.

Terence Tao, who has been called the “Mozart of Mathematics,” wrote an essay in 2007 about the common ingredients in “good” mathematical research. In this episode, the Fields Medalist joins Steven Strogatz to revisit the topic.

Researchers are discovering the shortest knots and fattest Möbius strips, among other “optimal shapes.”

High-dimensional spheres can have a much wider variety of structures than mathematicians thought possible.

Eugenio Calabi, who died on September 25, conceived of novel geometric objects that later became fundamental to string theory.