One of the most overlooked phenomena in the world is the simple existence of a piece of paper. What no one even seems to consider is the contradicting properties and behaviors of paper. The strength, the weakness, the random and yet, the sophisticated algorithmic behavior of folding paper has stumped scientists recently. Newscientist recently explored this behavior of paper and effectively portrays to the reader that paper is actually quite mysterious and enigmatic and is something that needs to be further investigated.
The article effectively employs the use of antithesis between the properties of paper that make it seem like an object of a different universe. For example, the article talks about the weakness of paper in that it tears so easily, but then quickly prompts the reader to think about why it is so weak in one way, but so strong when pulled on in a straight manner. The paper can handle so much force, but not a lot of pressure. The article engages the reader in this antithesis because it stumps them as well as making it clear that scientists are stumped as well.
Another way the article effectively employs antithesis in another sense. It contrasts reality and expectation of the behavior of paper. The article writes, This wasn't an entirely unexpected finding, but the second thing the 3D images revealed was. You might imagine ridges would arrange themselves randomly inside the balls, but the reality is very different. Weirdly, the interior of the ball was a series of orderly layers." This effectively captures the new unexpected observations of paper, and encapsulates how detailed the research goes. This adds ethos to the reader because it makes them aware of the legitimate steps taken towards understanding the behavior.Overall, I thought the article effectively portrayed a really obscure and out there topic by sort of summarizing the expected uninteresting aspects of paper we overlook, and arranging them in such a way that makes us realize that we really don't understand the behavior of matter and how science is so deeply rooted into our everyday lives.
