Research titled "Honeycomb construction on designed foundations reveals geometry-dependent developmental pathways" by Professor Koichi Osaki of the School of Science has been published in Scientific Reports.

Professor Koichi Osaki of the School of Science at Kwansei Gakuin University (Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture; President: Yasutoshi Mori)—in collaboration with Associate Professor Takayuki Narumi of the University of Kitakyushu (who also serves as a visiting researcher at Kwansei Gakuin University’s Center for Mathematical and Data Sciences Education and Research) and Ryo Ogawa of the Graduate School of Sciences and Technology for Innovation at Yamaguchi University (a second-year master's student at the time of the research)—fabricated multiple patterns of custom-made honeycomb foundations with specific shapes and sizes using 3D printers and observed how honeybees built combs upon them.
Honeybee combs are well known for their structure of regularly arranged, beautiful hexagons. However, merely observing the shape of a completed comb does not reveal the process by which this hexagonal structure emerges. In this study, the researchers provided honeybees with foundations featuring hexagons of varying sizes or square patterns and compared the progression of comb construction. The results demonstrated that honeybees do not simply trace the provided patterns; instead, they construct combs by following different developmental pathways depending on the shape and size of the foundation. The findings of this research were published in the international academic journal Scientific Reports (published by Springer Nature) on June 4, 2026.

Title: Honeycomb construction on designed foundations reveals geometry-dependent developmental pathways
Authors: Takayuki Narumi, Ryo Ogawa, Koichi Osaki
Journal: Scientific Reports
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-55752-x
URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-55752-x