QT:{{” In 2016, a team of scientists led by researchers from Kyoto University and Keio University discovered that granular keratinocytes in mammalian skin adopt a flattened Kelvin’s tetrakaidecahedron (f-TKD). [1, 2]
This 14-sided solid polyhedron—consisting of six rectangular and eight hexagonal sides—was first proposed by the British physicist Lord Kelvin in 1887 as the mathematically ideal shape for filling space with the least amount of surface area, much like how bubbles fit together in a foam. [1, 2]
Why This Shape Matters
The discovery, published in Scientific Reports / EMBO Journal by Yokouchi et al. (2016), solved a long-standing mystery in biology: how the skin maintains a continuous, leak-proof barrier while constantly shedding cells. [1, 2]
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