> "Cell angles were also similar [to 1-g structures] but did not angle consistently "downward" when built at 0 g."
Both the direction of "downward" and the perceived "force of gravity" are always moving targets as any shuttle orbits.
a) No comb was built in "0 g". The ship was in "free fall" or "microgravity", which is a small, but nozero amount of force.
b) At the exact center of mass of the space shuttle, one would perceive a force of gravity of about 1 x 10^−5 g. To compare, a free-falling satellite can "feel" about 1 x 10^−6 g.
c) The force will vary slightly depending upon where the "Bee Enclosure Module" was placed within the shuttle relative to the center of mass, or where it was relative to the central axis of the shuttle as it orbited.
d) But the biggest single issue is the orientation of the spacecraft as it orbits. The shuttle commonly flies "cargo bay up" or "cargo bay down", where "down" is defined as "facing Earth". The orientation of the shuttle changed several times during every flight, regardless of mission. The direction of the "microgravity pull" will always pull towards Earth, never away, so "down" was not constant.
e) The engines also kicked on every so often, and that's going to create short bursts of acceleration. It is not a perfect vacuum at 250 miles up. There actually is some slight "air resistance" at that height, so both the shuttles and the ISS need to periodically do small engine burns to keep their speed up.
So, without a timestamped record (like video) of comb being built, plus a record of the orientation of the STS, and the various engine burns as the mission progressed, we can't say where "microgravity" was pulling at the bees when they were trying to build any specific bit of comb, which on the issue of "cell slant", would change which of the 3 "bases" of a cell were viewed by the bees as being "the topmost one".
What one CAN say based upon these results is that (1) the bees could sense the "microgravity", as it impacted their comb building, and (2) the combs show that they were appropriately confused by the changes in that microgravity from changes in the Shuttle's orientation and velocity due to (b) through (e) above, resulting in the differences in comb drawn, but (3) they seemed to adapt to the new conditions quickly, yet again proving that bees will not just survive, but thrive under a wide range of conditions, including those bordering on overt abuse.
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