So, what did we learn? Well, first off, this wouldn’t have been possible without a rocking lab team, funding from the @NSF, and exceptional collaborators. Huge thanks to all for making this happen. (it's an old lab photo, but lots of important peeps are in there!)

Would we find this symmetry in other Apis species? It was a long-shot, but we got in touch with Bajaree Chuttong from Thailand, to see if she had nest images of other Apis species (both sides). With @EricaMaul, we transcribed these nests, and holy moly, they’re symmetrical too!

But does this symmetry actually exist in a 3-dimensional nest? @prathibha897 and @ben_koger to the rescue! We let colonies build 3D nests in empty boxes, and compared both sides of each comb - each one is only symmetrical with its backside (not within or across colonies).

So, does this actually matter to a colony? YES, it does! If you “fold” a one-sided nest onto itself, creating a two-sided nest, then colonies produce more brood, AND have a more stable temperature profile (temp is super important for developing brood; Ethan is our temp guru).

And it’s a bullseye – the colonies exactly position their brood nest with the higher temperature. 100% of the capped brood was colocalized with the heatpad (yes, we also tested this statistically, obvi).

YES, THEY ARE SYMMETRICAL! The two sides of comb are as symmetrical when you have two independent colonies (without contact) or a single colony with access to both sides. Shout-out to “team photo” led by @AztecaCecropia, and “team gross” led by… me.

…but… do the bees need to be in direct contact with both sides of the comb? Introducing the weirdest observation hive ever: one colony goes on one side, and a totally independent colony on the other. Will they continue to build symmetrical nests?

Surprise! Whatever is on one side of the comb, is a mirror image of the opposite side! Here’s an example, where the colors denote different nest contents. Roberto Molinari, statistician @AuburnU, made sure we weren’t totally insane.

Honeycomb is double-sided, and this is typically attributed to wax savings. But what about the contents on either side of the comb? Along with @AztecaCecropia, Maritza, and @csbailey128, we tracked nest contents throughout development.

Symmetry is everywhere. We find it aesthetically pleasing, and it’s important for locomotion (see planes, trains, and automobiles). But… would we find it a structure built by the collective? (see awesome nest photo by @AztecaCecropia)