Minimal surfaces

Minimal surfaces are surfaces that locally minimize their area while having a fixed boundary. Imagine a soap bubble stretched between a frame; its surface is minimal as it takes the least amount of surface area possible. Mathematically, these surfaces can be described by certain equations, resulting in shapes like the famous soap films or the catenoid. They are important in various fields, including mathematics, physics, and materials science, due to their unique properties and the way they naturally occur in nature.