The art of origami is revolutionizing technology

January 29, 2023
by RJ Hamster

Saturday, January 28, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we watch art and science collide, look inside a shipwreck’s stylish closet, learn the science behind the winter blues, garden underwater … and see wonders that no longer exist.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEO BY CRAIG CUTLER

It was seen as child’s play, until the ancient art started revolutionizing technology.

Now origami is at the center of countless scientific studies and being applied in everything from space exploration and healthcare to robots no bigger than a speck of dust.

“If you go after hard problems,” says Marc Miskin, an electrical engineer, “you’ll be rewarded with interesting technology.”

Read the full story here.

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Form and function: The green flowing structure (above, left) was created using simple curved creasing. The technique doesn’t have an application yet, but there’s potential in its strength and simplicity. As for folds with function, the Air99’s Airgami face mask (above right) uses origami to increase the surface area of N95 masks and the tessellated pattern (at top) was used on Japan’s Space Flyer Unit in 1995.

Everyday solutions: When Anton Willis moved into a cramped apartment that wouldn’t fit his beloved kayak, he turned to origami for ideas. Eventually he created a durable, foldable kayak from a single sheet of double-layered corrugated plastic. His company, Oru Kayak, now sells a full line of foldable boats. Read more.

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY THE PROVINCE OF NORTH-HOLLAND, THE NETHERLANDS

Clothing from 1600s shipwreck shows how the 1 percent lived (Above, a velvet robe dyed using rare insects only found in the Americas)

The most ancient galaxies in the universe are coming into view

The science behind seasonal depression

How Spain’s lust for gold doomed the Inca Empire

Strategies for explaining slavery to kids

These 3,000-year-old relics were torched and buried—but why?

For Black motorists, a never-ending fear of being stopped

How the Holocaust happened in plain sight

WHAT IS THIS ANIMAL?

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE WINTER

What animal is this? They have the widest range of any land mammal in the Western Hemisphere and can leap 40 feet horizontally in a single pounce. Although they’re thought of as mountain dwellers, they were pushed out of lowlands by humans. Now they’re steadily repopulating the United States (like P-22, above, who lived in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, and was photographed by Nat Geo Explorer Steve Winter). What kind of cat is it?

DO YOU KNOW?

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY LUCA LOCATELLI

Finding Nemo’s Garden: Off the coast of Italy, 15 to 36 feet underwater, scuba divers are gardening. In submerged “biospheres” (pictured above) they’re growing basil, tomatoes, okra, beans, green peas, herbs, and flowers. The installation, known as Nemo’s Garden, is testing the viability of underwater greenhouses, Nat Geo reports.

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY HARALD SUND, GETTY IMAGES

Vanishing wonders: Natural arches fall. Sea stacks crumble into the surf. Lava swallows coastlines. Breathtaking landmarks that were around one day, may not be the next (like the famous Jeffrey pine atop Yosemite’s Sentinel Dome, above). Luckily we have photographs to remember them by.

SEE BYGONE LANDMARKS

Today’s soundtrack: Paper Thin, Lianne La Havas

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Jen Tse, and Sydney Combs. Amanda Williams-Bryant, Alec Egamov, Rita Spinks, and Jeremy Brandt-Vorel also contributed this week. Have an idea? We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. Thanks for reading!

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The art of origami is revolutionizing technology

The art of origami is revolutionizing technology

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