14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists at the University of Oregon say that crop circles are very likely not caused by supernatural forces or UFOs, but rather by the laws of physics. These circles are enormous drawings on the ground, usually laid in crop fields, and that are visible in their entirety only from the air.
The director of the UO Materials Science Institute (MSI), Richard Taylor, says that these massive drawings are not the work of alien visitors, or caused by Gaia trying to get people to notice the harm we are doing to the planet.
He notices a correlation between the complexity of the crop circles and the time in which they were drawn. Simply put, earlier drawings are more primitive, whereas the more recent ones are way more of complex, denoting superior technology was used to create them.
Rather than looking for explanations in the sky, the expert proposes that we consider a simple fact – those who drew the figures on the ground replaced planks of woods, bar stools and ropes with global positioning system (GPS) devices, lasers and microwaves.
In the current issue of the journal Physic's World, the investigator and his team remind people that the first crop circles appeared back in the 1970s. It was only in 1991 that the two men responsible for their creation stepped forward and admitted it was all a hoax.
Though the two admitted to creating the original circles, they never took responsibility for all of them, which means that their example set in motion an underground, widespread phenomenon. As the years passed, the simple designs were replaced by increasingly complex patterns.
Some of the newest crop circles contain as much as 2,000 different crops. But Taylor and other researchers are now suggesting that a simple magnetron from a microwave oven and a 120-volt battery are sufficient to create the complex shapes.
“Crop-circle artists are not going to give up their secrets easily. This summer, unknown artists will venture into the countryside close to your homes and carry out their craft, safe in the knowledge that they are continuing the legacy of the most science-oriented art movement in history,” he explains.
In other words, crop circles will continue to spring up in the countryside, much to the dismay of farmers and the amazement of viewers, LiveScience reports. What constantly puzzles experts is the obscurity of mathematical principles used to create the drawings.
Oftentimes, those who create the crop circles employ elegant mathematical theorems such as Euler's Identity to create their masterpieces.