Re:Why nature prefers hexagons
by stinos on Sunday August 06, 2017 @03:31AM
(#14940210)
Is this the generally accepted explanation now? (I thought so, but the article itself doesn't mention it - then again, the article seems full of pseudo-science)
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Not sure if bees might do it this way - but just looking at pictures of early stages of nests such as [1] or [2], wasps apparently don't: It looks as if they do construct proper hexagons from the get-go.
[1] http://www.localhoney.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/start...
[2] http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uM7ATVMEcDA/TdcWZm9BPEI/AAAAAAAAI8...
Good find, that definitely looks hexagonal from the start.
Jürgen Tautz's "The Buzz about Bees" mentions this.
It says the bees build cylindrical cells around themselves initially, but then raise the temperature of the wax to 37-40 degrees C, when the wax is warm enough to flow into the hexagonal shapes.
(Pages 172-176)