Origami

We all remember doing paper folding during our early stages in school, the popular ones being paper box, ball and plane. In Kenya kids are taught the paper folding art in Nursery schools during which children are very young to learn and take anything that is so diverse seriously. So it normally stops there and most people take it as a children art. I never knew that very complex structures and models can be made using a flat sheet of paper.

The history of origami is under debate. Unlike other art forms, paper degrades quickly leaving no artifacts to suggest where origami originated and who first invented it.

Origami is believed to be a Japanese compound word which means “paper folding.”
It is used to describe crafts made from folded paper in Japan as well as pieces originating in other regions, since so many people associate folded paper crafts with Japan in particular. Individual origami pieces can vary widely in size and design, from simple folded boxes, cranes to ornate creatures made by joining several different sheets of paper. Many young people learn origami in school, and some people continue to practice this craft into adulthood.

Paper-folders are a diverse group of people ranging from artists to scientists to therapists. Artists and craftspeople use origami as a way to express themselves creatively. Scientists, architects, and mathematicians explore the geometry of origami for its own beauty and for practical applications. Therapists and teachers use origami as a tool to help their patients recover from illness or to help their students learn. Many people fold paper simply because it is fun.

Using origami technique, scientists are exploring and have developed ways  of ‘twisting’ segments of DNA to create Mobius bands, closed structures with only one side. A complex version of the structure can be used in the future for molecular engineering, the Nature Nanotechnology.

Errors and misconceptions about the history of paperfolding 
http://free-pdf-ebook.com/2008/01/01/what-is-origami/