For centuries, physicists and mathematicians have been trying to work out the most efficient way of packing spheres in order to minimize wasted space. They think they know how to maximise efficiency ...

Imagine placing oranges or tennis balls into a rigid container. How can the balls be arranged such that they occupy the largest volume fraction of the container, otherwise known as the largest packing ...

Stuffing a stocking or wrapping an oddly shaped present? Science can help. Whether it's Christmas shoppers mailing last minute gifts or a steelyard dispatching ball bearings to factories, everyone ...

M&M sweets pack together more densely than perfect spheres when randomly jumbled in a container, scientists say. Same-sized spheres were previously thought to have the highest "packing fraction" - the ...

The packing of shapes has drawn the attention of humankind since ancient times. A Sanskrit work from 499 ad reveals the first-known mathematical study of the face-centred cubic arrangement of spheres ...

Whether it is Christmas shoppers mailing last minute gifts, or a steelyard dispatching ball bearings to factories, everyone wants to maximize the number of objects that fit into a container. Naturally ...