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Honeybee combs: how the circular cells transform into rounded hexagons

This paper reveals the mystery of the rounded hexagonal shape of the honeycomb cells that has intrigued natural scientists and philosophers for millennia. It provides evidence that the cells do not start out as hexagons but as circles. The circular cells gradually form hexagons by the flow of wax, turned semi-molten by specialist “heater” worker bees. The wax, rendered visco-elastic by heat, gets pulled into hexagonal cells by surface tension at the junctions where three walls meet.

It is one of the most read papers (http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/reports/most-read)

This discovery has been widely reported in international media. (http://www.nature.com/news/how-honeycombs-can-build-themselves-1.13398, http://news.discovery.com/animals/insects/secret-to-honeycomb-revealed-130717.htm, http://www.livescience.com/38242-why-honeybee-honeycombs-are-perfect.html, http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/07/18/3805894.htm, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/17/honeycombs-build-themselves-physics-bees_n_3611825.html)