this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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Science Memes

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submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 187 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The do start as circles! Bees spin on their butt laying the honeycomb. Mechanical pressure mashes them into hexagons.

[–] [email protected] 73 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And thats why you sometimes find pentagons, its just squished circles.

[–] [email protected] 121 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Hexagons are the bestagons

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm very happy this has caught on.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

though his how to solve traffic video is abysmal

[–] [email protected] 89 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Ah yes, bestagons

[–] [email protected] 48 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yes. Hexagons are the bestagons

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

The hexagreatest

[–] [email protected] 38 points 11 months ago (2 children)

That's... thats a fly, with stripes for some reason.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Tiger fly

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

There are a lot of bees that look like flies. Check out mason bees.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 11 months ago

Shove the babies in them! And barf on them!

[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Obsessive Compulsive Beesorder?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Yes, this is how I relate to bees.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago

Bestagons

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago

Bugs love science, simple as

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Boy that’s One Committed Bee!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

You mean they skipped 4. Pointed polygons and chosen a hexagon instead. What's their problem with right angles.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

C'mon man, don't be a square.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Less volume per unit of surface area

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I believe the hexagonal tiling maximizes area while minimizing perimeter, right?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

It's just what happens when wax deforms from pressure. You can do the same thing with plastic straws, if you pack them tightly, or compress them with your hands.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

A circle should have the greatest area per perimeter and I can't think of a regular polygon with more sides that tessellates.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Why does it look like a fly?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

sssshhhh is bee

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Interesting. I haven't really connected hexagons and circles like this.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's a whole thing in mathematics, in two or three dimensions, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-packing_of_equal_spheres

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Fascinating.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Indeed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Is there any paleontological evidence for insects that made less efficient hives? That would be interesting to look into.

Although I gotta imagine bugs probably figured this stuff out so long ago there might not be much evidence anymore

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Haha, good question. I'm going to look at the bee family. I wonder what those fossils would look like...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Bees would be the best goddamn software architects...