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The Mind-Bending Physics of Origami | NOVA | PBS

NOVA PBS Official | July 27, 2026



A simple fold can completely change how a material behaves.

By changing structure instead of material, origami can transform flimsy sheets into rigid, shape-shifting systems. And scientists are still discovering entirely new ways to fold.

Hosted by Athena Brensberger @astroathens 💫

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Comments

This post currently has 23 comments.

  10. @MauriceFiorenza

    July 27, 2026 at 1:56 am

    In 1973 happy birthday present I gave a friend a book on origami. I will say he really loved it. I scanned it before I wrapped for him. A month or two later l read about the contest and making paper helicopters.. so Monday at work I took a ladder, about 8 ft. Of course I tried for about a day or two and coming up with something. In a bit of frustration I did something I couldn't believe would work. I types two types of paper airplanes a glider and the old fashioned type you teach kids. Something told me to take him basically apart and just use one plane to add in the other which use a few cuts and folds. I climbed the ladder. How my arm as high as I could over my head and dropped it . I tried it a few times only because it was actually working well. Did a couple of readjustments and up the ladder I went. The tinkering did help, in fact about 11 seconds to hit the floor. I went and did it a few times more . I folded it flat to take home. I shouldn't have done that. There went my dreams of being in the Guinness book of records. Millennial by 1977 I was working on something I was thinking about 3 years. Sorry intellectual property.

  12. @timvanarsdel

    July 27, 2026 at 1:56 am

    Why do hosts of science channels talk and move with a similar puppet motion? Look at her at 0:07 "Well (pause) I can't (flop) but people can (flop)." Then you got the squinting and smiling and tossing of the head around. Like it's all so bemusedly complex and fascinating.

  13. @Jim-j4n

    July 27, 2026 at 1:56 am

    My brain blew even after the first origami…thingy! My mind is NOT build for intricate…thingys like this! But it's cool to watch, even though I don't understand a…thingy of how to do these things! 🙂

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