7 ms·

The Namibia desert is decorated by thousands of mysterious circles

158 points by fromdoon 12y ago

prawn 12y ago
Not sure if it's just my browser that was missing them, but the article could've really used some images. You can see the fairy circles in this Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_circle_(Africa) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_circle_(Africa) Or this Google Images link: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=namibia+fairy+circle&safe=active&es_sm=91&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com.au/search?q=namibia+fairy+circle&safe...
- beedogs 12y ago
  I thought I was the only one...
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- arjie 12y ago
  Maybe their mobile site doesn't have any images? The article is full of pictures. 1. http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26/2x/p0262x31.jpg http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26... 2. http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26/30/p02630k3.jpg http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26... 3. http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26/30/p02630y6.jpg http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26... 4. http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26/33/p02633pj.jpg http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26... 5. http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26/35/p02635f0.jpg http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26...
  - seszett 12y ago
    I'm not on mobile and don't see images either.
  - prawn 12y ago
    Couldn't see any of those. It was Ghostery blocking them Brightcove widgets.
    - currysausage 12y ago
      > It was Ghostery blocking them Brightcove widgets. In the Web 17.0, using plain <img> tags for images just doesn't scale no more. Better rely on a framework for that arcane picture stuff.
  - marincounty 12y ago
    I see them on a jailbroken Ipad.
- ajro 12y ago
  Do you have javascript enabled?
  - prawn 12y ago
    Yes, but another comment suggested it might've been Ghostery. I could see a bland header image, but no images within the story, just dense text. After whitelisting the Brightcove widget in Ghostery, I can see the images.
- hmottestad 12y ago
  If you have Ghostery enabled you have to switch back on the BrightCove js library.
jrapdx3 12y ago
When I read the article few minutes ago the there were several interesting images of the "fairy circles". Their origin is still a mystery. In a way that's comforting, that nature often doesn't yield secrets so easily and we can be astounded and fascinated by the beauty of the things we discover. The recent idea that the circles are the result of grass growth limitations due to water and nutrient availability, it still doesn't account for the circular voids. Similar conditions exist in S. Arizona where I grew up. Plants were sparse in the desert, there were native grasses too, but no fairy circles. Maybe there's something about the root system of the grass that makes them chained together, but such regular circles at regular intervals wouldn't be explained by this mechanism. I wonder if the circles move, that might tell something. Maybe the circles are too small to track by satellite, or too remote to warrant keeping track from space. Well many have speculated about the phenomenon, tests have been done and theories discarded, and all we have to show for it is more speculation. The mystery will be revealed some day...
guelo 12y ago
Really don't see any patterns in this image, there's also overlapping and merging going on: http://lh6.ggpht.com/-4Dqlhnj1wkM/UV1et2rxyTI/AAAAAAAAm5Q/P-qZdrXEs_w/fairy-circles-1%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800 http://lh6.ggpht.com/-4Dqlhnj1wkM/UV1et2rxyTI/AAAAAAAAm5Q/P-...
readerrrr 12y ago
The termite theory makes a lot of sense. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_circle_%28Africa%29#Formation_and_controversy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_circle_%28Africa%29#Forma...
- arketyp 12y ago
  The microbial theory too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring
rogerallen 12y ago
Sure looks like Turing patterns that you get with Reaction-Diffusion simulations. See http://pmneila.github.io/jsexp/grayscott/ http://pmneila.github.io/jsexp/grayscott/ and select "holes"
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- WildUtah 12y ago
  Little circles in an apparently random pattern? Obviously, it's an anti-counterfeiting measure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation
- alceufc 12y ago
  "However, yet another recent theory proposes that grasses competing for water and nutrients - limited resources in the Namib desert - create the circles, explaining why they never overlap." Maybe this model could be used to analyze this hypothesis.
lake99 12y ago
If you're lazy, click here to see it on Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.9646371,15.9377251,382m https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.9646371,15.93... You'll have to switch to satellite-view yourself.
- spacefight 12y ago
  Direct link to sat view: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.9646371,15.9377251,580m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x1bf53c7e6ed37521:0xd3b9e5a5a8ecb261 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.9646371,15.93...
  - narag 12y ago
    There is a trail or "circles" from a spot in the top left corner going east and a little north.
- Grue3 12y ago
  The satellite view brings into question the assertion that the circles never overlap. They don't look all that regular or circular either.
- autokad 12y ago
  https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.861603,15.8566457,229m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x1bf53c7e6ed37521:0xd3b9e5a5a8ecb261 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.861603,15.856... what do you guys make of this? is this non-grass circles or did that grass just die
- autokad 12y ago
  never mind, i think i found the cause: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.8680385,15.8761902,244m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x1bf53c7e6ed37521:0xd3b9e5a5a8ecb261 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.8680385,15.87... its clearly will-o'-the-wisps
lucozade 12y ago
Tell me about it. Those Namibian desert fairies play havoc with your herbaceous borders.
john2x 12y ago
Reminds me of the tiny dots/circles that form on the surface after my rice finishes cooking. Can't find a photo of what I mean online though.
- astrobe_ 12y ago
  Could it be the base of thermal columns?
zimpenfish 12y ago
Someone should analyse the distribution for how close it is to a Poisson Disc / blue noise. Looks pretty good from the satellite images.
kalops 12y ago
BBC themselves previously reported termites being responsible for this: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21970408 http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21970408
- HappyTheHacker 12y ago
  The new article says: Tschinkel dug for termites in one or two circles and returned in 2007 to investigate, and hopefully prove, his hypothesis. “It took us about three days to establish, without a doubt, that termites were absolutely nothing to do with this,” Tschinkel says.
nakedrobot2 12y ago
This is caused by fungus. Have any scientists established this as the cause? That is my best guess.
- aidos 12y ago
  If it's a guess you should probably not state it as fact.
Indomitable_PHP 12y ago
Namibian here. Can confirm, this got more international press attention than national press.
charlesbronson 12y ago
The circles remind me of antibiotic restistance tests: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterial_lawn#mediaviewer/File:Bacterial_lawn_01.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterial_lawn#mediaviewer/File...
matt_morgan 12y ago
It doesn't say anything about watching these over time. Do the rings move? Do they fill in after a year and new ones form? It's not like all the grass is in rings.
kogus 12y ago
These remind me of the "Devils Stomping Ground" circle in NC. http://www.hauntspot.com/haunt/usa/north-carolina/devils-stomping-ground.shtml http://www.hauntspot.com/haunt/usa/north-carolina/devils-sto...
- jere 12y ago
  Came here to post this, but I've only heard it called Devil's Tramping Ground. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Tramping_Ground http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Tramping_Ground I'd like to go visit this for a few reasons, not the least of which is that one of my favorite NC beers is named after it.
Jun8 12y ago
“There is a tremendous sense of excitement that there is something really interesting going on and we want to know what that is,” says Professor Don Cowan, director of the Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. “It is a desire to understand the system. What is going there? What is happening?” Can't think of a better summary of science!
- tjradcliffe 12y ago
  How about this: "Science is the discipline of publicly testing ideas using systematic observation, controlled experiment, and Bayesian inference" :-) The notion that these circles are the result of large-scale self-organization on the part of the grasses (and maybe other creatures) is an intriguing one. I have a very speculative novel that plays around with the idea of evolution operating on all scales: http://www.amazon.com/Darwins-Theorem-TJ-Radcliffe-ebook/dp/B00KBH5O8K/ref=la_B00KHWIROC_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411070529&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Darwins-Theorem-TJ-Radcliffe-ebook/dp/... While Newtonian physics was the go-to explanatory metaphor for several centuries, it's plausible that in the 21st century we'll start to see metaphorical evolutionary explanations become more common. If we can encourage that habit in ourselves and others it may help us see more creative, non-linear solutions to our problems, rather than the simple Newtonian action/reaction, force/motion model.
jjallen 12y ago
To the man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail: "Some theories are still holding strong though, and Cowan jokes that each scientist sees the solution in terms of their own particular area of expertise: the insect biologists think the circles are created by ants or termites, the plant physiologists think it’s grasses, and the chemists think it’s gases. Cowan, a microbial ecologist, proves no exception."
tantalor 12y ago
Reminds me of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mima_mounds http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mima_mounds
jackgavigan 12y ago
Maybe it's the Magarathean equivalent of the EURion constellation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation
- Terr_ 12y ago
  I'm imagining a less-professional version, where underneath the polar ice is emblazoned: "This planet is original content and property of Yahweh, DO NOT STEAL"
sopooneo 12y ago
Have they had some grad student just go and camp in an area like this for a full year? I would think that would help you get some insights and plausible hypothesis. It seems the rocks-sliding-across-the-desert mystery could have been solved the same way many years ago.
kazinator 12y ago
They are clearly giant ejection pin marks from when the Earth was popped out of its mould.

158 points by fromdoon 12y ago

prawn 12y ago

Not sure if it's just my browser that was missing them, but the article could've really used some images. You can see the fairy circles in this Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_circle_(Africa) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_circle_(Africa) Or this Google Images link: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=namibia+fairy+circle&safe=active&es_sm=91&source=lnms&tbm=isch https://www.google.com.au/search?q=namibia+fairy+circle&safe...

beedogs 12y ago
I thought I was the only one...
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
arjie 12y ago
Maybe their mobile site doesn't have any images? The article is full of pictures. 1. http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26/2x/p0262x31.jpg http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26... 2. http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26/30/p02630k3.jpg http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26... 3. http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26/30/p02630y6.jpg http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26... 4. http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26/33/p02633pj.jpg http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26... 5. http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26/35/p02635f0.jpg http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/624_351/images/live/p0/26...
- seszett 12y ago
  I'm not on mobile and don't see images either.
- prawn 12y ago
  Couldn't see any of those. It was Ghostery blocking them Brightcove widgets.
  - currysausage 12y ago
    > It was Ghostery blocking them Brightcove widgets. In the Web 17.0, using plain <img> tags for images just doesn't scale no more. Better rely on a framework for that arcane picture stuff.
- marincounty 12y ago
  I see them on a jailbroken Ipad.
ajro 12y ago
Do you have javascript enabled?
- prawn 12y ago
  Yes, but another comment suggested it might've been Ghostery. I could see a bland header image, but no images within the story, just dense text. After whitelisting the Brightcove widget in Ghostery, I can see the images.
hmottestad 12y ago
If you have Ghostery enabled you have to switch back on the BrightCove js library.

jrapdx3 12y ago

When I read the article few minutes ago the there were several interesting images of the "fairy circles". Their origin is still a mystery. In a way that's comforting, that nature often doesn't yield secrets so easily and we can be astounded and fascinated by the beauty of the things we discover. The recent idea that the circles are the result of grass growth limitations due to water and nutrient availability, it still doesn't account for the circular voids. Similar conditions exist in S. Arizona where I grew up. Plants were sparse in the desert, there were native grasses too, but no fairy circles. Maybe there's something about the root system of the grass that makes them chained together, but such regular circles at regular intervals wouldn't be explained by this mechanism. I wonder if the circles move, that might tell something. Maybe the circles are too small to track by satellite, or too remote to warrant keeping track from space. Well many have speculated about the phenomenon, tests have been done and theories discarded, and all we have to show for it is more speculation. The mystery will be revealed some day...

guelo 12y ago

Really don't see any patterns in this image, there's also overlapping and merging going on: http://lh6.ggpht.com/-4Dqlhnj1wkM/UV1et2rxyTI/AAAAAAAAm5Q/P-qZdrXEs_w/fairy-circles-1%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800 http://lh6.ggpht.com/-4Dqlhnj1wkM/UV1et2rxyTI/AAAAAAAAm5Q/P-...

readerrrr 12y ago

The termite theory makes a lot of sense. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_circle_%28Africa%29#Formation_and_controversy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_circle_%28Africa%29#Forma...

arketyp 12y ago
The microbial theory too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring

rogerallen 12y ago

Sure looks like Turing patterns that you get with Reaction-Diffusion simulations. See http://pmneila.github.io/jsexp/grayscott/ http://pmneila.github.io/jsexp/grayscott/ and select "holes"

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
WildUtah 12y ago
Little circles in an apparently random pattern? Obviously, it's an anti-counterfeiting measure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation
alceufc 12y ago
"However, yet another recent theory proposes that grasses competing for water and nutrients - limited resources in the Namib desert - create the circles, explaining why they never overlap." Maybe this model could be used to analyze this hypothesis.

lake99 12y ago

If you're lazy, click here to see it on Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.9646371,15.9377251,382m https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.9646371,15.93... You'll have to switch to satellite-view yourself.

spacefight 12y ago
Direct link to sat view: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.9646371,15.9377251,580m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x1bf53c7e6ed37521:0xd3b9e5a5a8ecb261 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.9646371,15.93...
- narag 12y ago
  There is a trail or "circles" from a spot in the top left corner going east and a little north.
Grue3 12y ago
The satellite view brings into question the assertion that the circles never overlap. They don't look all that regular or circular either.
autokad 12y ago
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.861603,15.8566457,229m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x1bf53c7e6ed37521:0xd3b9e5a5a8ecb261 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.861603,15.856... what do you guys make of this? is this non-grass circles or did that grass just die
autokad 12y ago
never mind, i think i found the cause: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.8680385,15.8761902,244m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x1bf53c7e6ed37521:0xd3b9e5a5a8ecb261 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Namibia/@-24.8680385,15.87... its clearly will-o'-the-wisps

lucozade 12y ago

Tell me about it. Those Namibian desert fairies play havoc with your herbaceous borders.

john2x 12y ago

Reminds me of the tiny dots/circles that form on the surface after my rice finishes cooking. Can't find a photo of what I mean online though.

astrobe_ 12y ago
Could it be the base of thermal columns?

zimpenfish 12y ago

Someone should analyse the distribution for how close it is to a Poisson Disc / blue noise. Looks pretty good from the satellite images.

kalops 12y ago

BBC themselves previously reported termites being responsible for this: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21970408 http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21970408

HappyTheHacker 12y ago
The new article says: Tschinkel dug for termites in one or two circles and returned in 2007 to investigate, and hopefully prove, his hypothesis. “It took us about three days to establish, without a doubt, that termites were absolutely nothing to do with this,” Tschinkel says.

nakedrobot2 12y ago

This is caused by fungus. Have any scientists established this as the cause? That is my best guess.

aidos 12y ago
If it's a guess you should probably not state it as fact.

Indomitable_PHP 12y ago

Namibian here. Can confirm, this got more international press attention than national press.

charlesbronson 12y ago

The circles remind me of antibiotic restistance tests: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterial_lawn#mediaviewer/File:Bacterial_lawn_01.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterial_lawn#mediaviewer/File...

matt_morgan 12y ago

It doesn't say anything about watching these over time. Do the rings move? Do they fill in after a year and new ones form? It's not like all the grass is in rings.

kogus 12y ago

These remind me of the "Devils Stomping Ground" circle in NC. http://www.hauntspot.com/haunt/usa/north-carolina/devils-stomping-ground.shtml http://www.hauntspot.com/haunt/usa/north-carolina/devils-sto...

jere 12y ago
Came here to post this, but I've only heard it called Devil's Tramping Ground. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Tramping_Ground http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Tramping_Ground I'd like to go visit this for a few reasons, not the least of which is that one of my favorite NC beers is named after it.

Jun8 12y ago

“There is a tremendous sense of excitement that there is something really interesting going on and we want to know what that is,” says Professor Don Cowan, director of the Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. “It is a desire to understand the system. What is going there? What is happening?” Can't think of a better summary of science!

tjradcliffe 12y ago
How about this: "Science is the discipline of publicly testing ideas using systematic observation, controlled experiment, and Bayesian inference" :-) The notion that these circles are the result of large-scale self-organization on the part of the grasses (and maybe other creatures) is an intriguing one. I have a very speculative novel that plays around with the idea of evolution operating on all scales: http://www.amazon.com/Darwins-Theorem-TJ-Radcliffe-ebook/dp/B00KBH5O8K/ref=la_B00KHWIROC_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411070529&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Darwins-Theorem-TJ-Radcliffe-ebook/dp/... While Newtonian physics was the go-to explanatory metaphor for several centuries, it's plausible that in the 21st century we'll start to see metaphorical evolutionary explanations become more common. If we can encourage that habit in ourselves and others it may help us see more creative, non-linear solutions to our problems, rather than the simple Newtonian action/reaction, force/motion model.

jjallen 12y ago

To the man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail: "Some theories are still holding strong though, and Cowan jokes that each scientist sees the solution in terms of their own particular area of expertise: the insect biologists think the circles are created by ants or termites, the plant physiologists think it’s grasses, and the chemists think it’s gases. Cowan, a microbial ecologist, proves no exception."

tantalor 12y ago

Reminds me of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mima_mounds http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mima_mounds

jackgavigan 12y ago

Maybe it's the Magarathean equivalent of the EURion constellation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation

Terr_ 12y ago
I'm imagining a less-professional version, where underneath the polar ice is emblazoned: "This planet is original content and property of Yahweh, DO NOT STEAL"

sopooneo 12y ago

Have they had some grad student just go and camp in an area like this for a full year? I would think that would help you get some insights and plausible hypothesis. It seems the rocks-sliding-across-the-desert mystery could have been solved the same way many years ago.

kazinator 12y ago

They are clearly giant ejection pin marks from when the Earth was popped out of its mould.