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TED Talks Daily

Origami, the ancient art form solving modern problems | Miles Wu

11 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

4.064 - 16.316 Elise Hu

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. For 14-year-old Miles Wu, it all starts with a simple piece of paper.

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16.777 - 30.19 Miles Wu

No matter what, I'm always folding. Give me any scrap of paper, and I'll challenge myself to turn it into something. It's this process of turning nothing into something that sparks my imagination and draws me to origami.

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30.17 - 48.533 Elise Hu

Miles is an origami innovator who's been folding paper into intricate shapes and patterns since he was seven years old. He's gotten into trouble in class for turning his worksheets into ninja stars and has raised more than $4,000 for his community, one folded pigeon at a time.

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48.513 - 57.906 Elise Hu

But in this talk, he focuses on how that same playful curiosity led him somewhere he didn't expect, into the intersection of origami and science.

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58.327 - 72.747 Miles Wu

Origami is fun, but playing with paper has also shown me that origami has the power to stretch my creativity, help others, and even lead to new discoveries. It's amazing that something can be so strong and yet so lightweight at the same time.

Chapter 2: What inspired Miles Wu to start folding origami?

73.388 - 78.115 Miles Wu

And it's exciting to think about what potential applications a fold like this could have.

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78.145 - 94.298 Elise Hu

This is what it looks like when curiosity doesn't wait for permission. And stick around after the talk, we caught up with TED's curator, Chloe Shasha Brooks, who shared a few more thoughts on what it was like to work with Miles and takeaways on the ideas he offers. That's all coming up right after a short break.

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103.981 - 126.061

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133.968 - 168.494 Miles Wu

And now, our TED Talk of the day. I love origami. I love the way I can transform a simple piece of paper into almost anything, like a wheelbug, my grandparents, or even a neuron cell. I'm 14 years old, I live in New York City, and I'm in ninth grade, so I'm usually busy with homework or after-school activities. But in my free time, I really enjoy doing origami.

169.455 - 183.651 Miles Wu

Origami is fun, but playing with paper has also shown me that origami has the power to stretch my creativity, help others, and even lead to new discoveries. And today, I'd like to share one small discovery that I made and how I got there.

184.087 - 210.698 Miles Wu

So I started folding origami over seven years ago, making ornaments for my family's tiny Christmas tree and getting in trouble in class for turning my worksheets into ninja stars and paper claws. As you can imagine, my teachers were less than overjoyed, but I told them I was making academic weapons. Over time, I began folding more complex origami and even designing my own models.

211.399 - 233.79 Miles Wu

But no matter what, I'm always folding. Give me any scrap of paper, and I'll challenge myself to turn it into something. For example, if I'm waiting in line at Trader Joe's, I might turn a sample cup into a crane. Or even a super long CVS receipt. into a centipede, or even The New York Times into a lizard.

234.451 - 256.141 Miles Wu

And it's this process of turning nothing into something that sparks my imagination and draws me to origami. I've also found that origami has the power to help others. During the pandemic, eight-year-old me wrote cards and mailed origami birds to seniors at my local nursing home to cheer them up during quarantine. And more recently, I've been folding even more origami birds.

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