In 1995, Japanese astrophysicist Koryo Miura designed a folding mechanism intended to deploying solar panels in space. The method, called the Miura fold or miura-ori, allows you to open and close a folded piece of paper—like a map—with one swift motion. It's pretty like origami and useful like a fox.

Make sense? Probably not. This GIF is probably the best demonstration of the Miura fold in action:

Entrepreneur Eric Meltzer describes it thusly:

A Miura sheet has only one degree of freedom, and can be thought of as having only two states: fully open, or fully closed. Since reversing one fold in the sheet (that is, making a "mountain" into a "valley") requires reversing all of the adjacent folds as well, the Miura sheet feels as though it has a memory, and is very resistant to deformation.

While designed for solar panels, the fold could clearly come in handy in regular everyday usage—like for folding and unfolding maps. The catch is that if your paper isn't already folded Miura-style, it's fairly complicated to fold. Meltzer offers this folding schematic from Koryo Miura's original design. Alternately, this YouTube video offers another method (that appears to be a little different). If you live in San Francisco and like the idea, you might be interested in Meltzer and his partner Shan Wang's Kickstarter project, a Miura-folded guide to San Francisco.

Whether you've used the Miura fold before or you give it a try today, let's hear how it works for you in the comments.

The Miura-ori and how to fold it | Wheatpond

Packing efficiently saves you from having to lug around extra bags and being charged oppressive baggage fees. If you really want to get the most space efficiency out of your luggage, consider this new perspective on packing from someone used to almost living out of one, Shaun Huberts of the band Rococode: The easiest way to view your pack is to see it as a game of Tetris.

In Huberts' book, How to Pack Like a Rock Star, he explains:

The purpose of the game of tetris is to combine blocks of different shapes and sizes to form complete compact rows. This same concept can be applied to packing your clothes. Picture each article of clothing as a different shape, just like the various blocks in the game. With a proper folding method, every piece becomes a simple square building block.

The book is packed with photos and tips on folding, placement strategies, and other travel advice. Among them, creating a foundation of heavier items in a horizontal row along the bottom and then building from heavy to light. Continuing the Tetris analogy, the first level is pants, and a great tip is to keep your jeans stitching facing outwards so you can easily identify them. 2nd level - T-shirts, 3rd level - dress shirts (because they wrinkle easier so you want less pressure), 4th level - sweaters and hoodies, 5th - jackets, 6th - toiletries. Each of these items is stacked against the other snugly in rows.

For removing and replacing items, think Jenga, compressing the stack to remove an item and placing it on top so you know where your clean items begin and end.

How to Pack Like a Rock Star is $25 and a great read. You might actually start seeing packing as fun.

How to Pack Like a Rock Star | Rococode

Packing suits for travel doesn't mean they must succumb to wrinkles. This dry cleaner's technique demonstrates a simple method that will allow your suits to travel in any luggage and arrive in pristine condition.

Note: We've shown you another suit-folding technique before, but we felt this method was better and more detailed.

The video above demonstrates this process in a very clear and understandable manner, but here are each of the steps for your reference:

1. Lay the suit flat on the table and straighten the front.
2. Take all four parts of the fabric at the bottom of the suit in one hand, place your free arm under the breast of the suit, and flip it over.
3. Fold the side of the suit closest to you over one arm's length and straighten the fold.
4. Do the same with the other side of the suit.
5. With both arms folded in, you can now add the pants. Fold the pants by thirds, then in half again.
6. Place the folded pants at the top of the suit
7. Fold the bottom of the suit up to the top of the suit, folding the pants into it in one neat package.
8. Flip over your fold and you'll have a very straight, folded suit with pants. Place it in a bag and leave air inside so your suit is resistant to pressure while in transit.

This same folding technique can be used for button-down shirts, as the video also demonstrates. After a little practice, you should be able to fold and pack the entire suit in under a minute.

Fold a Suit Without Wrinkles | Pinterist

We've mentioned how to fold fitted sheets before, but reader wjglenn offers not only easy to follow along pictures, but a method to keep all your sheets packed neat and tight with minimal effort.

Here's a tip (with photos) on a clever way to store sheet sets, with a bonus look at folding fitted sheets.

The first step is folding the fitted sheet. The trick is in tucking one of the fitted corners inside another corner.

Next, do the same with the other set of corners and you end up with something like this.

A little folding (best on a flat surface) and you get a nicely folded fitted sheet.

Now, slide the fitted and straight sheet (and extra pillowcase if there is one) inside the pillowcase from the set and tuck the loose ends of the pillowcase in to form a pouch. If you don't cycle through sheets too often, stick a dryer sheet in the pouch to keep it smelling fresh.

What you end up with is a nice pouch with a complete sheet set. The pouches are easier to stack in the linen closet, easier to look through and grab what you need, and your sheets and pillowcases don't get mixed up.

This also works great with kids because we can have them change their own sheets. They can find and grab what they need without messing up the entire shelf. Top photo by Soffie Hicks.