January 27, 2026
Ant memes vs math nerds
Two Twisty Shapes Resolve a Centuries-Old Topology Puzzle
Math shocker: two look‑alike surfaces aren’t the same — comments went feral
TLDR: Three mathematicians found two closed-up surfaces that share the same local measurements but aren’t the same overall. Commenters split between awe at the breakthrough and “so what?” pragmatism, with ant memes and flat‑Earth jokes roaring—proof that even pure math can spark big internet feelings.
Mathematicians just dropped a plot twist: two closed-up, twisty surfaces feel identical up close but turn out to be different worlds overall. After 150 years of “probably unique,” the Bobenko–Hoffmann–Sageman-Furnas trio found the first compact pair that breaks the rule. Cue chaos. Commenters cheered a rare math mic-drop, then immediately demanded explainers. One helpful voice, abetusk, translated the fireworks: same local measurements—like mean curvature and a distance metric—but not the same shape. Think two skins that touch and bend the same way nearby, yet lead your ant to totally different endings.
Drama arrived fast: purists called it a “Bonnet burn,” while pragmatists asked, “Cool, but does it build better robots?” Flat-Earth jokers crashed the party, posting donuts and spheres with “same vibes, different lives.” Others loved the origin story—years of grind, overheated laptops, and a lucky geometric clue—like math’s detective noir. The strongest opinions split three ways: awe at a clean counterexample, confusion over why it matters, and jokes about ants doing world tours. Meanwhile, meme lords named the shapes twisty twins. Nerd wars raged over whether this changes anything practical, and the vibe was pure popcorn. Even skeptics admitted the proof looks tight, if the pixels survive this time.
Key Points
- •A new pair of closed, compact surfaces with identical metric and mean curvature but different global structures has been found.
- •The result provides a compact counterexample to the usual uniqueness implied by Bonnet’s 1867 theorem.
- •Previous exceptions were known only for non-compact surfaces that extend infinitely or have edges.
- •Mean curvature (extrinsic) and the metric (intrinsic) are explained as key local descriptors of surfaces.
- •The discovery required extensive effort and computational work, guided by insights from another area of geometry.