Piece of Plastic Magically Folds Itself Into a Box  North
Carolina State University professor Michael Dickey and his
research team have devised a way to turn sheets of plastic into
boxes and other shapes simply by applying heat to them. The
discovery could completely revolutionize the origami industry.
According to New Scientist, Dickey and his crew print black ink
along the folding lines to mark where the folds should go.
"Since black absorbs more energy than paler colours, the lines
first shrink more than the surrounding material and then fold
when subjected to light," they explain. "Increasing the width of
the line increases the angle of the fold, making it possible to
produce a range of shapes."  Now Dickey and his crew need to
figure out how to do this with cardboard, before the holiday
wrapping season begins. [New Scientist]