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Here's a paper on the topic:

"Spontaneous knotting of an agitated string" [1]

From the abstract: "We performed experiments in which a string was tumbled inside a box and found that complex knots often form within seconds. We used mathematical knot theory to analyze the knots."

[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17911269

Knot theory is still quite popular with physicists of certain sorts, such as condensed matter physicists that study "topological phases" - a popular account that I like can be found here: https://www-thphys.physics.ox.ac.uk/people/SteveSimon/PWsept...

There are fewer desired unknot states to your cable than there are tangled and knotted states to them. There also is some confirmation bias as you are less likely to noticed the desired state versus having to battle through the knots for 5 minutes.

Loops tangle creating more loops easierly and do not undo themselves typically but rather get tighter upon pulling

that's knot funny