The Miura Fold - Futility Closet

The Miura Fold - Futility Closet

Image: Wikimedia Commons In 1980, Japanese astrophysicist Kōryō Miura worked out a pattern of parallelograms that permit a map to be folded much more compactly than conventional right-angle creases. So efficient is the pattern that a map can be opened or refolded with a single motion by pulling on opposite ends, rather like an accordion. Today it’s used to fold surgical devices, furniture, and solar panel arrays on spacecraft.