{"664275":{"#nid":"664275","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"A New Puzzle Turns Earth Into a Rubik\u2019s Cube, but More Complex","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHenry Segerman, a British American mathematician and mathematical artist at Oklahoma State University, has invented a\u0026nbsp;puzzle to help explain the Earth\u0026#39;s annual\u0026nbsp;trip around the sun: Continental Drift, a 3-D sliding puzzle that made its debut earlier this year. The underlying geometric concept is holonomy: When you travel a loop on a curved surface and return to the starting point, you arrive somewhat turned around, rotated, perhaps by 180 degrees. It\u0026#39;s just one of Segerman\u0026#39;s inventions that\u0026nbsp;help visualize mathematics.\u0026nbsp;A few years ago, Dr. Segerman demonstrated\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.mathmechs.com\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022\u0022\u003EExtensors\u003C\/a\u003E: a construction kit for making extending mechanisms from scissor-like hinged parts.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/user\/elisabetta-matsumoto\u0022\u003ESabetta Matsumoto\u003C\/a\u003E, an associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;applied mathematician,\u0026nbsp;and Dr. Segerman\u0026rsquo;s partner, gave input into the contraption\u0026rsquo;s development and came up with the name Extensor. Between them, math is \u0026ldquo;a pretty common conversation,\u0026rdquo; said Matsumoto, who was featured in a 2019 New York Times \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/05\/17\/science\/math-physics-knitting-matsumoto.html\u0022\u003Estory\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003Eabout her project to investigate the mathematics and mechanics of knitting. (This story also appears in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/puzzle-turns-earth-rubiks-cube-194724795.html\u0022\u003EYahoo!\u0026nbsp;News\u003C\/a\u003E.)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2023-01-03 15:59:00","changed_gmt":"2023-01-03 18:28:08","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/01\/01\/science\/puzzles-math-segerman.html?login=email\u0026auth=login-email","dateline":{"date":"2023-01-01T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-01-01T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166937","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"173902","name":"Sabetta Matsumoto"},{"id":"173838","name":"Elisabetta Matsumoto"},{"id":"191798","name":"holonomy"},{"id":"168853","name":"Henry Segerman"},{"id":"2748","name":"mathematics"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}