Bubble Packing Dynamics

A very reoccurring design is the result of being how something that is round packs together to use least space. In the bubbles floating on the surface of the water shown below the spherical membranes attract to each other to become one, resulting in straight line honeycomb design.

When covering a surface that is not flat as stem cells covering the eye of a developing fly there are patches of this regularity that fit together well enough that there are no holes in the covering membrane, but is a stress-point may result in bubble popping to relive stress accumulating in that area of misalignment. There is here a force generated in the membrane that squeezes out what does not have a space left to fill in the structure.

During development of the eye of a fly somewhat mobile stem-cells snuggle together on both sides of the head with ones that could no find a space are likewise squeezed out. Stem cells below the developing light receptor stem cells adapt to where they ended up by differentiating into neurons that instinctively interface to it. The result is an eye with synaptic network behind that will self-organize to produce the sense of vision for the rest of the neuron levels of brain that follows to make muscles move or not.

In some developmental environments neurons form hexagonal columns that instinctively respond to sensed or stored angles.

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Science & Technology

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• Bubble
• hexagonal
• science