Light can tie knots—literally. Engineers at Duke University have managed to manipulate laser beams to form intricate 3D patterns called optical knots, using custom-designed optics.

These twisted beams could one day carry information or measure air turbulence, but researchers discovered that real-world conditions like turbulent air can distort them more than expected. To combat this, they modified the knot’s shape to make it more resilient, opening new paths for using light in surprising ways.

Light beams can tie knots too