> Science is never settled.  I've heard the universal constants are not all that constant. I was hugely influenced by a talk by Steve Tabor years ago when he basically said the same. 

Well, you lost me there. What did Steve say? By the way, it's Taber. His early work makes for some interesting reading:

The measurements of cell size and angle reported here do not agree with those in the literature, which also are in disagreement, largely because of the irregularity of the cells.  "The shape of the bee cell does not have its celebrated regularity; its economy is a teleological myth. The whole history of the bee cell in natural philosophy, geometry and philosophy is the story of a two hundred-years-old mistake."

However, our figures do indicate that the foundation manufactured for the construction of new combs in hives does not have the correct dimensions. For example, Grout (1963) suggested 857 cells per dm2 as a standard for worker comb. Our measurements, converted to square decimeters, were 813.8. That is, the worker brood cells suggested by Grout are *smaller* than needed.  Queenless comb had 678 cells per dm2.

Comb built by queenless bees differed from any described in the literature. We think it is comb characteristically built by queenless bees that is neither worker nor drone in size but intermediate.

Taber III, S., & Owens, C. D. (1970). Colony founding and initial nest design of honey bees, Apis mellifera L. Animal Behaviour, 18, 625-632.

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