Trailing after double bubbles

From Washington, D.C., at the Joint Mathematics Meetings

A standard double bubble enclosing two unequal volumes of space. John Sullivan/UIUC

Predicting the geometric shapes of bubble clusters can lead to surprisingly difficult problems.

In 1995, mathematicians finally proved that the so-called standard double bubble, familiar to any soap-bubble enthusiast, represents the least surface area when the two bubble volumes are equal (SN: 8/12/95, p.