Cells start out circular, but exactly how they become hexagons is still debated
One thing is well documented: brand-new cells in a comb are round, and only later take on the familiar six-sided shape. The mechanism is the contested part. A leading hypothesis says the warm, soft wax flows where three cells meet and surface tension pulls the walls into hexagons. But that account is disputed, and other researchers argue the bees mechanically shape the walls themselves. Scientists agree the cells begin as circles, but a definitive explanation for the final hexagon has not yet been settled.
