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Crop circles are incredible pieces of art. While some think that aliens are the cause of these jaw-dropping displays, there is plenty of evidence to the

Subscribenewsvideosimagesearthpediatake actionearthsnapSubscribeCrop Circles: What's Fake, Real, and Questionable?ByEric RallsEarth.com staff writerFollow Earth on GoogleFollow usMark as selected sourceCrop circles are incredible pieces of art. While some think that aliens are the cause of these jaw-dropping displays, there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. The popularity of crop circles has declined somewhat in the last few decades, but they are still exciting features on the agricultural landscape. Crop Circles Are Very Real This much is certain; crop circles are not made up. These stunning patterns exist in the world, whatever their cause. They exist in countries around the world and thousands have been documented in the last 40 years. Colin Andrews coined the term ‘crop circle’ in the late 1970s. Crop Circles Aren’t Pivot IrrigationTaken literally, there are probably millions of circles of crops in the world. These are caused by center-pivot irrigation. This type of irrigation has a water source in the middle of a circle. This water is fed through metal tubing, which sprinkles a crop with water as it proceeds in a circle. Center pivot irrigation works like the hour hand on a clock. While center pivot irrigation can indeed make for some intriguing patterns upon the landscape, those patterns aren’t the type of crop circles covered here. This crop circles uses extensive Euclidian geometry. footageclips/Shutterstock.comThe Shapes of Crop Circles Are GeometricThe most basic crop circles are simply circles of bent over crop in a field. While crop circles may have been basic in design back in the 70s and 80s, they are anything but simple these days. Modern crop circle designs generally use Euclidian geometry. Euclidian geometry focuses on the relationships between basic shapes, such as circles and triangles. The interplay between cones, squares, circles, and other basic geometric shapes makes beautiful, often symmetric designs. These designs often have some mathematical elegance embedded. Fractals, or repeating, mathematical patterns that use ratios, are often used in crop circles as well. An example of fractals. A famous crop circle used the ”Julia Set” fractal. Toby Howard/Shutterstock.comCrop Circles Can Be MassiveThe first observed “saucer nests” were only couple dozen feet across. However, modern crop circles may span many hundreds of feet. Crops, typically grown in flat, homogenous areas, are great, blank canvases for massive artwork. In 2010, someone made a monstrous jellyfish that spanned about 600 feet long! abramsdesign/Shutterstock.comCrop Circles Can Be Wildly IntricateA famous 2002 crop circle depicted a stereotypical alien head holding a disc. This disc contained encrypted information that a computer scientist decoded. The information on the disc spelled the words “beware the bearers of false gifts and their broken promises,” along with some other phrases. Other crop circles often have repeating, symmetrical patterns that use the different colors between the bent-over crops and the standing crops to make visually stunning displays. How Are Crop Circles Made?Now for the contentious bit you’ve been waiting for. While everyone agrees that crop circles exist, that they can be massive, and that they are intricate and beautiful, some people disagree on exactly how the crop circles were made. Are aliens responsible? Or perhaps freak weather events? The lines coming out from the crop circles are ‘spurs’ made from farmer’s tractors and are not part of the circles. YueStock/Shutterstock.comHumans Make Crop CirclesCrop circles began to appear with greater frequency in the late 1970s. Famously, Dave Chorley and Doug Bower, admitted to creating many crop circles in southwest England in the ’70s and ’80s. They focused on the areas around the towns of Hampshire and Wiltshire. These pranksters blanketed England with over 200 different designs. Their artwork inspired plenty of other folks to try their hand at creating crop circles around England, and eventually around the world. The method Chorley and Bower used to create crop circles was low-tech. It involved a rope, a wood plank, and some clever minds. Using the rope from a center point, crop circler makers can use the piece of wood to flatten down selected areas of crops. Crop circle makers enter the crops from the ‘spurs’ in the field, which are lines of flattened crops from the farmer’s tractor. That way, the makers don’t leave a suspicious trail behind them when they leave. Companies Use Crop Circles as Clever MarketingPranksters aren’t the only people using crop circles to their advantage. Recently, computer chip maker Nvidia anonymously made a mysterious crop circle that resembled a computer chip. This crop circle gained media coverage, especially after the chip manufacturer took credit for it. The witty marketing team with a low budget was able to use interest surrounding crop circles to amplify their advertising goals. Similarly, the 2012 Olympics ...