The natural design and coupling of biological structures are the root of realizing the high strength, toughness, and unique functional properties of biomaterials. Advanced architecture design is applied to many materials, including metal materials, inorganic nonmetallic materials, polymer materials, and so on. To improve the performance of advanced materials, the designed architecture can be enhanced by bionics of biological structure, optimization of structural parameters, and coupling of multiple types of structures. Herein, the progress of structural materials is reviewed, the strengthening mechanisms of different types of structures are highlighted, and the impact of architecture design on the performance of advanced materials is discussed. Architecture design can improve the properties of materials at the micro level, such as mechanical, electrical, and thermal conductivity. The synergistic effect of structure makes traditional materials move toward advanced functional materials, thus enriching the macroproperties of materials. Finally, the challenges and opportunities of structural innovation of advanced materials in improving material properties are discussed.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/advs.202207192

Advanced Composites Inspired by Biological Structures and Functions in Nature: Architecture Design, Strengthening Mechanisms, and Mechanical‐Functional Responses

http://www.cell.com/article/S2666389922002306/pdf

Honeycomb: An open-source distributed system for smart buildings

The cell orientation characteristics of the natural combs of honey bees have received much research attention. Although natural combs have been shown to be composed of cells with three orientations—vertical, intermediate (oblique), and horizontal—the proportion of comb cells in these three orientations varies. Knowledge of the comb-building preferences of honey bees is essential for the installation of wax comb foundations, and clarification of the cell orientation characteristics of natural honey bee combs is important for beekeeping. The purpose of this study was to determine the cell orientation characteristics of natural combs of Eastern honey bees (Apis cerana cerana) and Western honey bees (Apis mellifera ligustica). Newly built combs were used to measure the orientation of hexagonal cells and calculate the proportion of cells in different orientations relative to the total number of cells. The number of eggs laid by queens in the cells of different orientations was also determined. The orientation of cells in the natural combs of Eastern and Western honey bees was determined based on the value of the minimum included angle between the pair of parallel cell walls and a vertical line connecting the top and bottom bars of the movable frame in the geometric plane of the comb: 0°≤θ≤10°, 10°<θ≤20°, and 20°<θ≤30° for vertical, intermediate, and horizontal orientations, respectively. Natural combs were composed of cells with at least one orientation (vertical or horizontal), two orientations (vertical + intermediate (oblique) or vertical + horizontal), or three orientations (vertical + intermediate + horizontal), and the proportions of combs with the three aforementioned configurations differed. Both Eastern honey bees and Western honey bees preferred building combs with cells in a vertical orientation. Queens showed no clear preference for laying eggs in cells of specific orientations. The results of this study provide new insight that could aid the production and cutting of wax comb foundations of Eastern and Western honey bees. Our study highlights the importance of installing wax comb foundations compatible with the comb-building preferences of bees.

/pdf/cell-orientation-characteristics-of-the-natural-combs-of-2md1am13.pdf

Cell orientation characteristics of the natural combs of honey bee colonies

Perhaps the most magnificent animal building structure is the honeybee wax comb—a double-sided sheet of tessellated, near-horizontal hexagonal cells. The cells are built either side of a common backplane that forms a base for those to either side. This typically highly regular structure has been shown to be mathematically optimal to maximize storage space and stability while minimizing building material (1). However, Smith et al. (2) show that bees also build various types of irregularly shaped and sized cells, for example when merging separate comb constructions. This raises the question of whether the bees’ innate behavioral repertoire contains multiple different routines for each shape, whether bees plan ahead to insert optimal shapes, or whether such diversity of structures could be explained by simple rules.

The hexagonal grid structure of honeycomb, constructed by a leaderless collective of hundreds of bees, lends itself to speculation that a robotic, repetitive innate behavior routine must be at work. An analogy is the construction of a brick wall, where each new layer is built by adding new bricks in a staggered, one-over-two pattern. This can be efficiently achieved by a robot without the architect’s supervision (3). This concept—where the features of an existing structure are used to add the next element of the structure by a simple rule—is called stigmergy (4, 5). The perceived analogy between insect cells and bricks has led some social insect researchers to model comb construction as the simple process of fitting new, complete comb cells onto the existing structure (5).

However, a hexagonal cell is not an externally supplied prefabricated unit. Rather, the bee builds a cell using small specks of wax which are chewed, deposited, and sculpted into the walls (6) to form a hexagon of equal-length sides with internal angles of 120°. And this is not … 

[↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: l.chittka{at}qmul.ac.uk.

 [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/118/33/e2111310118.full.pdf

Vince Gallo

Papers

Stigmergy versus behavioral flexibility and planning in honeybee comb construction