Explore the shape of things...

POLYTOPO · Outreach

Topology is the mathematics of what survives stretching, twisting, and bending — but never tearing. POLYTOPO brings this idea to life through interactive visualisers, paper-and-scissors experiments, graph puzzles, and a few surprising games. No equations required — just curiosity. Pick an activity below and start exploring.

Choose an activity

Interactive tool

Topology Explorer beta

Drag, rotate, and tune magnetic skyrmions, antiskyrmions, vortices, and hopfions in real time. Adjust the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, switch between render modes, and watch the topological charge Q stay fixed — no matter how hard you try to distort the texture.

Community activity

Topology & Food

Pretzels, bagels, doughnuts, pasta — topological shapes hide on every plate. Find them, photograph them, and share your discovery with the community.

Game

Topology Matching Game

Put your topological intuition to the test. Match shapes by their topology — not their geometry. Two objects are the same if you can deform one into the other without cutting. How many can you get right?

Series · 2 activities

Twists & Spinors beta

A ribbon with one half-twist cannot be untwisted — and neither can an electron after a 360° rotation. Two hands-on activities unfold one deep idea: the ℤ/2 structure that connects paper strips to quantum spin.

The Möbius Strip · Dirac's Belt Trick

Series · 3 activities

Edges & Surfaces beta

From the seven bridges of Königsberg to the Euler characteristic — graph theory and surface geometry show that counting edges and vertices is enough to classify shapes.

Königsberg Bridges · Chinese Postman · Euler Characteristic

Activity

Knots & Invariants beta

Two loops can look identical yet be topologically distinct. Discover the invariants that tell them apart — without ever cutting the string.

Activities