Operation origami: science meets art in high-tech folding.

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What do insects and car airbags have in common? Both have been the subjects of origami, the Japanese process of folding squares of paper into various shapes.

Origami has long been considered an art--its practitioners producing paper fashioned into everything from turtles to chameleons. Now, scientists are studying the mathematics of this ancient paper-folding technique and using the results to solve engineering challenges.

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POP-UP TECHNOLOGY

Airbags save the lives of people in automobile crashes each day, but the bags' march from idea to reality was no simple task. Engineers needed to make sure they would work under a dizzying number of conditions. They had to account for various car speeds, passenger sizes, and even points of impact during a crash.

To test each crash scenario, engineers would have to run countless computer simulations. But first they needed their computer program to fold the balloon-shape cloth in such a way that it would pop out in a car crash.

The airbag makers knew they needed an algorithm (step-by-step procedure for solving a math problem) that could determine the best way to fold a three-dimensional object so it lies flat. Enter Robert Lang, a physicist, engineer, artist, and origami expert who works as a consultant to various government agencies and private companies. Lang suggested that to pack an airbag flat, the makers simply adapt the algorithm that he uses when folding origami insects, birds, and frogs.

"You can tell the algorithm to create a final shape as an animal with arms, legs, and wings, or you can tell one part of the algorithm to create a final shape of an airbag. It gives the folding pattern in either case," says Lang.

The engineers followed Lang's advice. After putting the algorithm into their computer software, they were able to simulate how different airbag patterns would deploy during a crash.

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FOLD AND STUFF

Lang's knack for applying origami to technological challenges extends beyond the auto plant. When scientists wanted to create a space telescope with a lens as wide as a football field to better their view of the universe, Lang helped figure out how they could fit it into the payload of a school-bus size rocket.

In his mind, the challenge was similar to finding the most precise way to fold a sleeping bag into its stuff sack so that it unfolds smoothly. He suggested the telescope makers use a simple origami pattern containing a few basic shapes. So far, the engineers have successfully tested the folded pattern on a 5-meter (16-foot) lens, and hope to attempt it on an even larger lens.

ORIGAMI UNLIMITED

The origami bug has even hit hospitals. Scientists have developed an origami pattern to collapse a cylinder-shape device that can be threaded through blood vessels. Doctors can then expand this stent to hold open clogged arteries and allow blood to flow through. "Because the stents are threaded up through the blood vessels, they need to be made much smaller while they're traveling and then expanded [once they are in place]," says Lang.

Now that origami has moved from the world of art to science and technology, there's no stopping it. "Essentially, anything can be folded from a single sheet of paper," says Lang.

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Check out more scientific origami at: www.scholastic.com/scienceworld

PRE-READING PROMPTS:

* What is origami?

* What kinds of things do you fold every day?

* Do you think origami is an art or a science? How could it be used for both?

* Which do you think would be harder to fold: something very small or something very big?

DID YOU KNOW?

* Origami is an art form that dates back to sixth-century Japan. In Japanese, the word "ori" means to fold and "gami" means paper.

* The origami figure with the most folds of any made so far is the "Red Sea Urchin" by Hans Birkeland. It has a whopping 913 folds.

* Scientists are using origami to understand how protein molecules fold together in the body. These folds are key to their biological function and could help researchers develop more effective medicines.

CRITICAL THINKING:

* Origami is being used to fold many things in an effort to improve science. A current project has scientists folding "nano-origami" shapes to create better computer memory storage and cram more songs and information into iPods and cell phones. Can you think of any other engineering challenges to which origami could be applied?

CROSS-CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS:

HISTORY: The paper crane has become known as a symbol of peace, due to the quest of a young Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki to fold 1,000 paper cranes. Research her life and then make a PowerPoint presentation on your findings to share with the class. Start your research here: www.hiroshima-is.ac.jp/index.php?id=64 or check out the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr, Putnam Juvenile, 1999.

RESOURCES

You can access these Web links at www.scholastic.com/scienceworld.

* Watch a clip from a new documentary film, Between the Folds, which investigates the beauty of origami and how it relates to math and science: www.greenfusefilms.com.

* OrigamiUSA is an organization devoted to paper folding. To learn more about origami and the group's activities in the U.S., visit its Web site: www.origami-usa.org.

* This site has everything you could ever want to know about origami! Check it out for history, folding patterns, cross-curricular ties, and more: www.origami-resource-center.com.

DIRECTIONS: Circle the incorrect word or phrase in each item and write the correct word or phrase above it.

1. Origami is the Australian process of folding squares of paper into various shapes.

2. Scientists are studying the history of origami to solve technological challenges.

3. To make a foldable lens for a space telescope, tang suggested the makers use an origami pattern containing a variety of complex shapes.

4. Doctors insert a stent into a patient's arteries to keep blood from flowing through.

ANSWERS

1. Australian/Japanese

2. history/mathematics

3. complex/basic

4. keep blood from flowing/allow blood to flow