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Published online 5 December 2002 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news021202-4
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Laces high
Of the millions of ways to tie our shoes, we've chosen the best.
We commonly use only two of the millions of ways to lace a shoe, because they are the best balance of strength and efficiency, finds new research1.
"Hundreds of years of trial and error have led to the strongest way of lacing our shoes," says mathematician Burkard Polster: the 'straight-lace' and 'criss-cross' methods.
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