Here is a real one-a very real, important use of origami folding. http://nyti.ms/QAUkfe
Manu Prakash wants to grow a generation of young scientists by distributing powerful yet inexpensive laboratory instruments around the globe. Origami microscopes! >From the NYT article: Last month he received widespread attention for his Foldscope, a 3D-printed microscope assembled from origami-folded paper. The microscope will make it possible for schoolchildren, laboratory technicians and even the world's best scientists to have the imaging power of a desktop instrument worth several thousand dollars at the cost of less than a dollar. He said he hopes to put paper microscopes in the hands of every child in the developing world, providing them with the ability to see for themselves such things as whether their drinking water is clean. ... It is made from die-cut paper, can be assembled in several minutes and can have a resolution that approaches 700 nanometers. That makes it a potential medical instrument for imaging and diagnosing deadly bacterial diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, African sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and giardiasis.
