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Why Nature Prefers Hexagons

The geometric rules behind fly eyes, honeycombs, and soap bubbles.

It’s a simple matter of geometry. If you want to pack together cells that are identical in shape and size so that they fill all of a flat plane, only three regular shapes (with all sides and angles identical) will work: equilateral triangles, squares, and hexagons. Of these, hexagonal cells require the least total length of wall, compared with triangles or squares of the same area. So it makes sense that bees would choose hexagons, since making wax costs them energy, and they will want to use up as little as possible—just as builders might want to save on the cost of bricks. This was understood in the 18th century, and Darwin declared that the hexagonal honeycomb is “absolutely perfect in economizing labor and wax.” 

Vintage Menswear in London: Levison’s

I just got home from two weeks on tour with the Judge John Hodgman podcast. We went from Maine to DC, then across the Atlantic to the London Podcast Festival and had a grand time. One of our best discoveries was a little vintage show called Levison’s, off Brick Lane in London.

We were visiting the weekly market on the Lane. The street is lined with stalls, and several parking lots are taken over, too, by vendors selling everything from new hardware to second-hand clothes. The market was fine, but Levison’s was superb.

It’s a small shop, but full of wonderful things. Militaria seems to be a specialty, with tons of styles of field wear ranging from the relatively commonplace to the distinctly rare. There were more formal clothes, too, though it probably isn’t the place to go to find a morning suit for your wedding. Instead, look for rough-and-ready casual wear.

Hodgman and I had a lively conversation with the shopman Ricardo while jazz bopped along in the background. I left with a pair of field trousers in my (big, hard-to-find) size. I paid a pretty penny, but not an unreasonable amount. It’s London, after all.

Levison’s

1 Cheshire Street, London, E2 6ED

Monday: Saturday 11am - 6.30pm