The Science of Origami

Here at Michigan State, just heard a dazzling talk by this dude: Robert J. Lang, a former physicist now a fulltime origami artist. Wow. He and other math whizzes have demystifed the mystical art, broken it down into computer models and equations, and can now literally program complex origami structures and designs: Give the computer a shape (say, a deer) and it will give you the crease pattern needed to produce it. Here are two of his works, an Irish Elk and a Golden Eagle, and I greatly encourage you to visit his website to see many more:

Talk about a "two cultures" merger....