Ah, origami. The ancient Japanese art of paper folding. No matter how much I try, I cannot master your crane. Hell, I can barely fold a decent paper airplane. I'm not sure if that reflects my agility or my intelligence, but I'm not the one getting paid to be smart. That's a job left to a special caliber of people, like the researchers from Harvard and MIT who have achieved the impossible by developing programmable matter. In other words, a self-folding origami.

To be fair, the foil-y surface in question can take almost any shape, not just a paper hat or "cootie catcher". And in this video from ScienceMag, it actually folds itself into a boat and plane.

Based on the ancient art of origami, the sheets are edged by foil actuators--thin, solid-state motors--that contract or expand when they receive an electric current from flexible electronic circuits embedded in the sheets. After they achieve their preprogrammed shape, the sheets are held in place by tiny magnets on the edges of the fold joints. 

Impressive. Mesmerizing, even. But what does that mean in the long run? A folded boat or plane isn't really something... functional, but rather a proof on concept. One day, this technology is believed to lead to an auto-adjustment function, like for filling a cup with water. But in this case, the cup would physically adjust to the amount of water it contained.

Wow. I'm glad I'm sitting down. The idea of my future tea set being smarter than most of the population is a little intense. I guess it's not helping that I keep watching this video over and over. I just can't... look... away...

What's the first thing you'' program your future paper to fold into? I'm going with a unicorn. I don't know how, but that's for science to figure out.

[PNAS via ScienceMag]