Mysteries Unveiled: Scientists Discover The Secret Behind Fairy Circles

The secret behind fairy circles has been unfolded this season as scientists finally discover the reason behind one of nature's most perplexing mysteries.

First discovered in the Namib Desert in Namibia, Africa, researchers have long been wondering and studying the possible cause of the fairy circles, which are ring-like hexagonal patches on the earth.

Different explanations have been given by local residents, including fairies dancing in circles overnight and leaving their footsteps on the sand, dragons firing and burning holes in the land, etc. Others also believe that fairy circles were footsteps of God or were created by UFOs, according to ABC News.

But the mythology behind the mystery was broken when the same phenomenon was discovered recently in an outback in Australia. Finding the same occurrence in a different place gave scientists more open opportunities to study the case further.

Researchers studied and found out that both places had plants living with a limited supply of water. They then realized the probable connection between the plants, lack of water and the existence of the fairy circles.

"The formation of the patterns is driven by a positive feedback between vegetation growth and water transport toward the growth location, very much like in the Namibian ecosystem, as we found in an earlier study," said Professor Ehud Meron, a researcher from Ben-Gurion University, as per Earthables.

The interest in fairy circles began in 1970s when researchers had to divide into two groups in search for the real answer behind this mystery. The team termite believes that fairy circles are formed by pests while team water believes that fairy circles are the result of plants responding to water scarcity.

Team water later linked the mystery to a theory developed by Alan Turing, a mathematician. Turing's attern-formation theory explains how nature organizes itself. When weaker plants die, the stronger ones grow larger. This means that fairy circles are not created by any mythical creature but are the results of plants' intense competition for water supply, as per the New York Times.