ABSTRACT
When physicists are presented with a thin sheet of brightly colored paper, we are inclined to ask, “What would this sheet choose to do if I pushed on its edges?” Thus, we consider the ways that nature chooses to distort the sheet in response to external stimulous. A simple experiment is performed (see Figure 1). We crush the sheet between our hands, then pull it flat again. The result is clear: Nature also chooses to use folds and point vertices as preferred distortions of the sheet (though the results are much more chaotic than the efforts of an origami enthusiast). Why does this happen?
