Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.

(Nanowerk News) If you want to build a fully functional nanosized robot, you need to incorporate a host of capabilities, from complicated electronic circuits and photovoltaics to sensors and antennas.

Long before screens and styluses, entertainment came in the form of folded paper. One square. No cuts. No glue. Just folds. That’s all it took to create animals, flowers, boats, and birds that felt ...