Researchers at Georgia Tech, the University of Illinois, and the University of Tokyo have come up with a new, origami-inspired structural-support configuration called “zipper tubes,” long tubes with zigzagged creases. On their own, the tubes are flexible and can bend into a “U” shape. But when coupled together, the structure can be a hundred times stronger than the original material used to make the tubes, says Evgueni Filipov, a graduate engineering student at the University of Illinois. “We’re basically able to eliminate all those twisting, bending, and other types of deformations to make a nice stiff structure, like a beam,” he says. Filipov and his colleagues built their prototypes out of paper, but he says he’s excited about trying the technique with thin sheets of metal or plastic.

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The zipper pattern is based on an origami technique called Miura-ori folding, in which a sheet of paper is be folded into a compact square in such a way that it can be opened and closed in one swift motion. The zig-zag creases not only make the material stronger but also impart a mechanical property. That means the structure can be folded flat for easy storage and then expanded for fast deployment.