The mooring and towing of oil rigs and huge ships rely on the strength and durability of thick ropes and the splices that join those ropes. Yet the mathematical models used to evaluate ropes have long ...

Mathematics is unpicking the secrets of a centuries-old nautical skill called splicing - joining two ropes together end to end by interweaving their strands 1. Chris Leech of rope and fibre ...

Crews from Aspen Skiing Co. and its contractors are on the homestretch this week of the massive undertaking of replacing the thick wire cable of the Silver Queen Gondola at Aspen Mountain. The cable, ...

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in ...