Circles on the field and other formations. South Africa

Mysterious crop circles grow like our skin cells. In the dry grass wastelands of South Africa – in Namibia, Angola, South Africa - they are found every now and then. As a rule, these are almost vegetation-free areas from 2 to 15 m in diameter, surrounded by normal tall grass.

Locals have known them since ancient times, according to some beliefs, such circles are traces of the gods, according to others - they point to the underground dwellings of fire-breathing dragons, whose heat does not allow the grass to grow above them, reports. Unfortunately, no exact scientific explanation has been found for these circles. Many hypotheses have been expressed linking their appearance with termites gnawing plant roots, fungi, radiation and just ostriches. However, it has not yet been possible to confirm any of them.

And a recent study of these circles, conducted by Japanese scientists from the Institute of Science and Technology in Okinawa, revealed their new amazing strangeness. Modeling has shown that the distribution of "naked" circles growing in the African wastelands is very similar to the growth of human skin cells.

The researchers collected data from satellite observations of the grass wastelands of Namibia, and then studied a network of circles. It turned out that if you mentally draw something like a border between the circles – halfway between one and the other – they form a structure strikingly reminiscent of epidermal tissue. The number of neighbors in each "cell" will be the same – as a rule, six. Moreover, the percentage of "cells" having six, four, five, seven, eight or nine neighbors will also be the same in both cases.

Perhaps this indicates the fact that the growth of "bald" circles is the result of some biological factor. The same can be said by the fact of their "roundness", and the fact that they really grow, appearing small and gradually increasing in diameter.