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- [JK] Imagine plants or flowers
in a folded shape and they blossom.
For example, leaves with the, let's say,
four-fold or five-fold or six-fold of patterns,
with minimal, let's say, biological force,
they can unfold their leaves or unfold their flower petals.
The way that they do that
is sometimes in a very optimized way.
If I see insects with wings folded under their skeleton,
this is basically origami.
(static)
(classical music)
- [Narrator 2] Origami is the ancient art of paper folding.
But this art form appears in nature too
and aerospace engineering professor, JK Yang
wants to know what we can learn from it.
- [JK] So origami is basically art of paper folding.
When I first thought about using origami for research,
honestly I was not super serious because this is just
the art of paper folding that little kids enjoy.
But origami is basically more than that
and it contains design principles.
(calming classical music)
My five-year-old daughter, she loves folding paper,
so I basically work with her
and we basically do origami together.
So, this is something, you know,
that I really like about origami.
I mean, it enables me to connect with people around me.
Recent decades, scientists started looking at origami.
Mathematicians started to look at origami.
Computer scientists started to look at origami.
And they find that, "Wow, this is very profound."
So, that made me think, "Why don't we,
instead of, I mean, choosing material from the library,
why don't we design material on our own as we wish?"
- [Narrator] JK's work focuses on design,
how a space shuttle might land to better absorb impact
or how a solar panel might fold into a more compact shape.
- [JK] So aerospace engineering,
for the missions to be successful,
you have to do the mission with light materials,
very durable materials.
You cannot go to space with structures made of concrete.
(mission control launch chatter)
(inspiring classical music)
(thrusters firing)
The materials that I design
will be shielding unwanted noises
or protecting our personnel
or our equipment from the impact.
And after landing of, for example, rocket,
the landing legs sometimes need to be replaced
because the way that it absorbs impact,
it does create, undergoes permanent deformation.
So I would like to design materials
which will be absorbing impact but we can make it reusable.
(calming classical music)
- [Narrator] But to JK, origami is more complex
than just scientific research: it's the place
where science and art meet, through design.
Folding a single square of paper
can create endless possibilities
for JK to rethink problems in engineering.
- [JK] There are so many origami art pieces out there
and that can all inspire us
to design new materials and new structures.
When I see this paper, I imagine foldable space structures
and foldable medical devices and this is much more beyond.
Origami can be both art and science
or it can be neither art or science.
So that is the beauty of origami.
(calming classical music)