Outreach · 2016
Wasp is art
A colony of European paper wasps, a stack of coloured construction paper, and a nest that turned into a record of whatever they had been handed that week.
Paper wasps make paper. They scrape fibre from weathered wood and dead stems, chew it with saliva and build with the pulp, which is why a nest is normally the grey-brown of whatever happened to be growing nearby. Give them something else to chew and the nest changes colour.
So I did. Coloured construction paper, left within reach of the colony one shade at a time. Every band records the sheet that was available while that part was being built, which makes the finished nest legible from the stalk down: the oldest paper is at the top, and the sequence of colours is the sequence of weeks.
It was not a study and it was never published. It escaped anyway.
Four frames
Photographed from the same position each time. The axis is true to scale across June, where the intervals really are six days each, and then breaks: the last frame is dated only to the month, so there is no honest position for it on a measured line.
9 June 2014
day 0
Pink and ochre, the first two papers she was given.
15 June 2014
+6 days
Blue and green arrive, laid down as new bands under the old ones.
21 June 2014
+12 days
Twelve days in. The nest has roughly doubled and the cells are filling.
July 2014
Some weeks later
Purple and orange, a working colony, brood in the cells.
Where it went
It went round the art and design press rather than the science press, which meant an audience that would never open a paper. 29 outlets that I know of. Nothing I have published since has travelled as far.Ten years on, only 15 of the 29 links still resolve. The rest are listed as they ran.
International
- ColossalWhen Given Colored Construction Paper, Wasps Build Rainbow Colored Nests
- My Modern MetWasp Colony Given Colored Construction Paper Builds an Amazing Rainbow Nest
- Bored PandaWhen Wasps Are Given Colored Paper, They Build Rainbow Nests
- BooooooomMattia Menchetti Gives Wasps Coloured Paper to Create Rainbow Nests
- Design You TrustWhen Given Colored Construction Paper, Wasps Build Rainbow Colored Nests
- DeMilkedThese Wasps Use Colored Paper To Make Rainbow Nests
- InhabitatWasps build rainbow nests with colored construction paper
- EarthablesSee What Happens When Wasps Are Given Colored Paper To Create Their Nests
- The Mind CircleWhen Wasps Are Given Colored Paper, They Build Rainbow Nests
- So Bad So GoodThis is what happens when you give wasps colorful paper
- EideardWasps build rainbow nests when given colored paper
- rruneWhen Wasps Are Given Colored Paper, They Build Rainbow Nests
- Photo VideWhen Specified Colored Development Paper, Wasps Create Rainbow Colored Nests
- Daily MailNo, you’re not tripping: a swarm of wasps has built a bizarre psychedelic nest after being fed rainbow coloured paper
- Mental FlossThis rainbow wasp nest was built with colored paper
- The NerdistWhat happens when you give wasps colored paper
- ZME ScienceMenchetti’s rainbow-colored hives show wasps can become artists, all they need are supplies
- NerdcoreWasps build rainbow-nests from colored paper
- Lost At E MinorWasps build rainbow nests when you hand them coloured paper
- Incredible ThingsWasps Make Rainbow Nests When They Have Colored Paper
- HelpostWhen given colored construction paper, wasps build rainbow colored nests
- FavogramWhen Wasps Are Given Colored Paper, They Build Rainbow Nests
- Newfound ReadsThese Paper Wasps Managed To Build A Colorful Nest
- The HypebuzzWhen Wasps Are Given Colored Paper This Is What Happened
- OSM WeaselWasps built dreamlike nest with colored paper
- mywilooWasps create rainbow nests with colored paper