The Origami Revolution

Engineers are using origami to design drugs, micro-robots, and future space missions. Airing February 15, 2017 at 9 pm on PBS Aired February 15, 2017 on PBS

Program Description

The centuries-old tradition of folding two-dimensional paper into three-dimensional shapes is inspiring a scientific revolution. The rules of folding are at the heart of many natural phenomena, from how leaves blossom to how beetles fly. But now, engineers and designers are applying its principles to reshape the world around us—and even within us, designing new drugs, micro-robots, and future space missions. With this burgeoning field of origami-inspired-design, the question is: can the mathematics of origami be boiled down to one elegant algorithm—a fail-proof guidebook to make any object out of a flat surface, just by folding? And if so, what would that mean for the future of design? Explore the high-tech future of this age-old art as NOVA unfolds “The Origami Revolution.”

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Broadcast Credits

WRITTEN, PRODUCED, AND DIRECTED BY

Sarah Holt

DIRECTED BY FOR FACT+FILM

François-Xavier Vives

PRODUCED BY FOR FACT+FILM

Antoine Bamas
Michael Wolff
Elmar Bartlmae

EDITED BY

Sarah Holt
Mark Mossmann
François-Xavier Vives

DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Emmanuel Roy
Stephen McCarthy

NARRATED BY

Jamie Effros

ANIMATION

Mitch Butler

ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS

Julie Crawford
Gitanjali Rege

FIELD PRODUCER

Julie Walker

ADDITIONAL CAMERA AND SOUND

Brian Wilcox

SOUND RECORDISTS

Jeff Hall
Dave Ruddick
Frank Coakley

ASSISTANT CAMERA

Galen Murray
Josh Weinhaus

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Brendan Feeney

ONLINE EDITOR AND COLORIST

Dave Bigelow

AUDIO MIX

Heart Punch Studio

SCIENCE ADVISORS

Patsy Wang Iverson
Thomas Hull
Jason Ku
Ian Dell'Antonio

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS

Peter O. Lewis
Alex Burch
Priya Amin

MUSIC

APM
Hilde Kappes

ARCHIVAL MATERIAL

Tangled Bank Studios
Influenza 3D model by Visual Science, 2016-17
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering/Harvard University
ArtbeatsExpress/Pond5
van_yog/Pond5
Thierry Sousbie/UPMC Univ. Paris
NASA
ESO

SPECIAL THANKS

Matthew Gong
Spencer Magleby
David Morgan
Terri Bateman
Kenny Seymour
Pamela Bjorkman
Lance Stewart
BYU Compliant Mechanisms Research Group
Brian Trease
Shawn Douglas
Caroline Perry
Christophe Bessède
Kristina Wissling
Katia Bertoldi
Johannes Overvelde
Dr. Jun Chung
Levi Dudte
Kevin Ma
Elizabeth Farrell Helbling
Samuel Felton
Benjamin Goldberg
Tomoki Fukushima
Masaru Sakuma
Noriyaki Fukui
Thomas Peybernes

For FACT+FILM

HEAD OF PRODUCTION

Bénédicte Richard
Sabine Klein

For FRANCE 5

COMMISSIONING EDITOR

Hervé Guérin

For ZDF/3SAT

COMMISSIONING EDITOR

Katharina Finger

NOVA SERIES GRAPHICS

yU + co.

NOVA THEME MUSIC

Walter Werzowa
John Luker
Musikvergnuegen, Inc.

ADDITIONAL NOVA THEME MUSIC

Ray Loring
Rob Morsberger

CLOSED CAPTIONING

The Caption Center

POST PRODUCTION ONLINE EDITOR

Spencer Gentry

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

Jennifer Welsh

PUBLICITY

Eileen Campion
Eddie Ward

RESEARCH

Ana Aceves

SENIOR SCIENCE RESEARCHER

Caitlin Saks

NOVA ADMINISTRATOR

Anne Barleon

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Linda Callahan

PARALEGAL

Sarah Erlandson

TALENT RELATIONS

Janice Flood

LEGAL COUNSEL

Susan Rosen

DIGITAL MANAGING PRODUCER

Kristine Allington

SENIOR DIGITAL EDITOR

Tim De Chant

DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MEDIA

Lauren Aguirre

RIGHTS MANAGER

Lauren Miller

BUSINESS MANAGER

Ariam McCrary

POST PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Brittany Flynn

SUPERVISING PRODUCER

Kevin Young

POST PRODUCTION EDITOR

Michael H. Amundson

BROADCAST MANAGER

Nathan Gunner

COORDINATING PRODUCER

Elizabeth Benjes

DEVELOPMENT PRODUCER

David Condon

PROJECT DIRECTOR

Pamela Rosenstein

DIRECTOR, BUSINESS OPERATIONS & FINANCE

Laurie Cahalane

SENIOR SCIENCE EDITOR

Evan Hadingham

SENIOR PRODUCER

Chris Schmidt

SENIOR SERIES PRODUCER

Melanie Wallace

DEPUTY EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Julia Cort

SENIOR EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Paula S. Apsell

A NOVA production by Hold Productions LLC for WGBH Boston.

Origami Code, Copyright La Compagnie des Taxi-Brousse, Leonardo Film, fact+, France Télévisions and 3sat

This program was produced by WGBH, which is solely responsible for its content.

Original funding for this program was provided by Cancer Treatment Centers of America, the David H. Koch Fund for Science, the Montgomery Family Foundation, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.