Origami ScienceOrigami science and other useful things: The most obvious useful origami would be the boxes and containers made from folding paper. Origami is also be used by teachers and care providers for educational and health benefits. And of course, origami is used to make paper toys and paper magic. You will be surprised to know that paper folding ideas is used in technically advanced origami science projects. Solar Sails in Space Flight Unit In March of 1995, Japanese scientists used origami concepts to pack and deploy a solar power array in the research vessel called Space Flight Unit (SFU). On Earth, the solar array was folded into a compact parallelogram, and then in space, it was expanded into a solar sail. The method of folding the solar panels is called "Miura-ori", in honor of Koryo Miura, a professor in Tokyo University, who developed the fold.
The Miura-ori (translation = Miura-fold) is famous for map folding. The Miura-ori allows a square piece of paper to be folded in such a way that it can be opened (in one motion) by pulling at two opposite corners. As well, a Miura-ori folded map is less likely to tear at the crease junctions. An easy to use road map - now that's origami science! 
Origami Lens In January 2007, Eric Tremblay and Joseph Ford from the University of California in San Diego have made an ultrathin, high-resolution Origami Lens. The lens is very thin and is 7 times more powerful that conventional camera lenses. Typically, camera lenses use many parts to bend and focus light. The Origami Lens replaces the many parts of a conventional camera lens with one optical system; this makes the lens thinner. The Origami Lens is made of a crystal which is diamond-cut so that the light travels in a zig-zag manner analogous to the way paper is pleated in origami. Note: the lens itself is not folded, but the optical path is folded.
Space Telescope, Eyeglass In order to study galaxies and astronomical events that are far away, a large space telescope is needed. However, giant telescopes cannot be shipped into space due to the size constraints of rockets and shuttles. Professional origami artist, Robert Lang helped scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, California) design a method for folding a space telescope so that it can be packed into a space shuttle and then easily deployed when in space. The foldable telescopic lens is called “Eyeglass”. In early 2002, a telescopic lens measuring over 3 meters in diameter was constructed. When folded origami style, it was 1.2-meter in diameter and shaped like a cylinder. By early 2004, a 5-meter prototype lens was constructed and shown to concentrate light as expected. In the future, it may be possible to fold 100-meter telescope lenses into 3-meter diameter cylinders and have these delivered into space - all thanks to origami.
Medical Uses, Stents In 2003, Zhong You and Kaori Kuribayashi from the University of Oxford developed an origami stent which may be used to enlarge clogged arteries and veins. The waterbomb base from origami was used to design the origami stent. A stent is a tube which can be collapse into a smaller size. Using a balloon catheter, the stent is maneuvered through the patients veins/arteries to the clot site. When the balloon is inflated, the stent is expanded to a larger diameter, thereby opening the vein/artery for better blood flow. Depending on the application, the tissue may grow over the stent and it remains in the patient permanently. By 2005, a self-deployable origami stent was developed.
Other Origami Science Applications Airbags in Cars: A German company, EASi Engineering, was interested in finding a better way to pack airbags into car steering wheels. Professional origami artists, Robert Lang, helped design an algorithm which will allow computer simulations of airbag folding and deployment. This allowed the company to evaluate the efficiency of the airbags without actually doing a crash test. Saves money, saves time, saves lives. Research is ongoing. Crumple Zones in Cars: Most cars have pre-designated crumple zones at the front and back of the car. These are engineered zones which will collapse during a collision. Folding at the crumple zones will absorb the energy of the impact and potentially save the lives of the passengers. In conjunction with the Nissan Motor Company, Japanese scientist, Ichiro Hagiwara, uses his knowledge of origami to design a fold pattern that will absorb maximum energy during impact. Research in progress.
More Origami Science Stuff
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Photo: Space telescope "Eyeglass" can be folded origami style from a flat disk (bottom right) into a smaller cylinder (top left). Credit is given to the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Department of Energy under whose auspices the work was performed.
