What are fairy circles?
Fairy circles are large circles of soil without vegetation. if you fly over the area near the small mining town of Newman, you'll see large circles of red soil among the green grass.
The circles were first observed in Africa. Millions of them have existed in the Namibian desert for decades. They grow and shrink over a lifespan of 30 to 60 years.
In Namibia, legends say that they are the footprints of Gods and dragons.
What is the cause of fairy circles?
Scientists don't agree on the cause of the circles. Some think they exist because of ants, radioactive gas, sand termites or venomous plants.
But the hypothesis of researchers Michael Crammer and Nichole Barger seems to be the winner. It looks like the plants would be the culprit. They self-organise to have more water by creating these well with their roots.
It would explain why the circles appear in hot areas and why they grow during dry years and shrink during wet years.
Mystery (almost) solved! Finding more fairy circles that were created the same way would help to corroborate the hypothesis. Re-creating the experience in a lab is not really an option since the circles spread on kilometers and take years to from.
