The cosmic web is the largest flow system in the universe. It resembles some other flow networks found on earth, and even in the human body: water in river networks, blood in veins, arteries, and air in lungs. I will describe some results arising from an analogy between the cosmic web and a few different systems: river networks, slime molds, and origami. The latter led to our discovery of spinning intergalactic filaments, and a new “propeller” model of a spinning-up galaxy that goes beyond the usual tidal torque theory.
