Packing Long Strings  Attention: open in a new window.
PDFPrintE-mail  Sailors have long known the most efficient way
to pack rope or string is by folding it into perpetual figure 8
loops. This efficient packing (which is really a compressed
helix) has also been observed in nature. Many proteins are
coiled into helices. The DNA Double Helix is an instantly
recognised icon of modern science. Such aesthetically pleasing
structures have now been shown to be the optimal solution to a
difficult problem - how to tightly pack very long strings
without getting them tangled. DNA and proteins are very close to
the most optimal structure determined by computer simulation
described in Nature, Vol. 406, p251 and p287, 20 July 2000. "Is
this an insight or coincidence?" ask mathematicians Andrzej
Stasiak and John Maddocks who reply to their own question "We
suspect it is the former."  Editorial Comment: Stasiak and
Maddocks are correct. Such optimal structures are the result of
plan and purpose by the Creator who gave space