How honeycombs can build themselves

Image source - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/17/honeycombs-build-themselves-physics-bees_n_3611825.html

A recent article in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface explored the physical reasons behind the creation of the classic beehive hexagons, whether they were intentionally created by the bees to be hexagons or whether the hexagons arose naturally from the physical forces at work within the beehive.

Apparently in this case physics beats biology...

Karihaloo and his colleagues seem to have clinched this argument with their study. The team interrupted honeybees making a comb by smoking them out of the hive, and found that the most recently built cells have a circular shape, whereas those just a little older have developed into hexagons. The authors say that the worker bees that make the comb knead and heat the wax with their bodies until it reaches about 45 ^oC — warm enough to flow like a viscous liquid.

Stupid physics...