Candy Science: M&Ms pack more tightly than spheres

Pouring M&Ms into a bowl leads to a marvel of packing efficiency, a team of sweet-toothed scientists reports.

MEASURED INDULGENCE. Crammed willy-nilly into a flask, M&Ms pack together almost as compactly as do perfectly ordered spheres. A. Donev, et al./Science

Using bench experiments and computer simulations, the team has found that squashed or stretched versions of spheres snuggle together more tightly than randomly packed spheres do.