Miles Wu

Miles Wu is a New York City student, TED speaker, and young STEM innovator known for applying origami—especially Miura-ori folding patterns—to structural-design research for deployable emergency shelters. His work won the top prize at the 2025 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.

Miura-Ori Folds Can Make Paper Hold 10,000 Times Its Weight

In a TED talk, 14-year-old New York student Miles Wu argues that origami is more than decorative paper craft: it is a way to test how geometry can change what a material can do. Wu traces that claim from childhood folding projects to a Miura-ori science experiment in which compact paper structures held extraordinary loads, including one version that supported more than 10,000 times its own weight.

TEDJun 26, 20266 min read