Is Origami the Future of Tech ?

In 1996 a young mathematician and computer scientist named Erik Demaine became fascinated by a magic trick that Harry Houdini used to do before he made his name as an escape artist. The magician would fold a piece of paper flat a few times, make one straight cut with a pair of scissors, and then unfold the paper to reveal a five-pointed star. Other magicians built on Houdini's fold-and-cut method over the years, creating more intricate shapes: a single letter, for example, or a chain of stars.Is the Fiberglass in Your Attic or Walls Causing Cancer ?

It's an odd subject of study for a computer science professor, but Demaine had an unorthodox background. When he was hired by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001, he was, at 20, the youngest professor in the university's history. Pale, thin, and soft-spoken, with a pickpocket's long fingers and a fox-colored ponytail, Demaine was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and raised by his father, Martin, a renowned glass blower.

When Demaine was six, he and his father started a puzzle company. When he was seven, his father took him out of school and they spent four years traveling the U.S., choosing their destinations together. They spent a few months in Florida, Demaine recalls, “because it was so flat and good for riding bicycles.” Martin home-schooled his son while they moved from place to place. The traveling stopped when Erik returned to Halifax to enroll in Dalhousie University at age 12.