Bees Defy Odds, Construct Flawless Honeycomb on Wonky Foundations

According to a study published on August 24th, 2025, honeybees have an extraordinary ability to adapt their construction techniques to build perfect honeycomb, even when faced with difficult, 3D-printed foundations.

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and Harvard University have been studying how these industrious insects work together to create the intricate hexagonal patterns of honeycomb, which are used to store honey and as nurseries. The team has been intentionally creating "impossible puzzles" for the bees by 3D-printing model honeycomb foundations with cells that are either too small, too large, or irregularly shaped.

Despite these challenges, the bees have demonstrated remarkable problem-solving skills. When confronted with cells that are slightly smaller than ideal, they use wax to "merge" parts of the 3D-printed holes, leaving other areas open. For cells that are up to twice the normal size, the bees "tilt" their wax cells at an angle to prevent honey from spilling out. And for cells three times larger than usual, the bees use a "layering" technique, with each corner of the hexagon becoming the foundation for a single wax cell.

Researchers say these findings could have applications beyond biology, potentially informing research on human technologies like computer programming and robotics. The study's authors are particularly interested in understanding how the bees coordinate their construction efforts as a collective, which could provide insights into distributed decision-making.

While the bees' construction skills may seem like evidence of advanced cognition, the researchers caution that it's difficult to differentiate between true problem-solving and deeply ingrained behavioral patterns honed over eons of evolution. Nonetheless, the study's findings demonstrate the remarkable adaptability and engineering prowess of these tiny, industrious insects.