It is useful and common practice here to post a link with the referenced article. Others can read what you are referring to and then provide some educated comments or suggestions. I searched the Science News website at http://www.sciencenews.org/ using the phrase "idea shape for a column to resist buckling" and got no results. I also tried "ideal shape for a column to resist buckling" with the same result: nothing.
Sorry I can't find the article it had the diagram. The idea hyperbolic flywheel shape is easy to find on the web http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544211005251 the column shape should be easier to find since columns are much more common than flywheels. I'm replacing all the steel parts on my bicycle with aluminum ones http://www.flickr.com/photos/63373992@N07/7122582819/ both of those spacers failed by buckling however the failure was safe being a fraction of a mm. I'm going to replace these with 7075 T6 and drill holes in them.There will also be an idea shape with a constant outside diameter with shaped drillings on the inside which my intuition tells me will be close to a hyperboloid of one sheet. These would be easy to drill.