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Honeycombs end up hexagonal just from a bit of physics
According to research published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, bees initially make circular cells and use their body heat to turn the wax into a viscous liquid. Then the surface tension at the 3-point junctions pulls the wax into a hexagonal shape. Apparently Charles Darwin had come up with this idea before but didn't have enough evidence to prove it. Via Nature
Another interesting video by Destin at SmarterEveryDay demonstrating the mystery of the Prince Rupert's Drop. Watch it here.
What's cool is that the glass droplet actually explodes from damaging the tail -- i.e. hitting the head with the hammer isn't what breaks it -- and so the high tension left over from it's formation releases, starting a chain reaction at ~1 mile/second. Awesome!
