MAQzine

Crop circle designs Early examples of crop circles were usually simple circular patterns of various sizes. After some years, more complex geometric patterns emerged. In addition to circle designs based on sacred geometry , some of the later formations, those occurring after 2000, are based on other principles, including fractals . Many crop circles now have fine intricate detail, regular symmetry and careful composition, and elements of three-dimensionality have been introduced. Crop circle maker John Lundberg, in an interview with Mark Pilkington, spoke about this change in crop circle designs: "I am rather envious of circlemakers in other countries. Expectations about the size and complexity of formations that appear in the UK are now very high, whereas the rather shabby looking Russian formation made the national news. Even Vasily Belchenko, deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, was on site gushing about its origin: 'There is no doubt that it was not man ...

Crop circles are patterns created by the flattening of crops such as wheat , barley , rapeseed (also called "canola"), rye , corn , linseed , rice paddies and soy . The term was first used by paranormal researcher Colin Andrews to describe simple circles he was researching. While patterns involving complex geometries have been observed, the term circle has stuck as a generic term for crop patterns. Many circles are known to be man-made, such as those created by Doug Bower, Dave Chorley, and John Lundberg . Bower and Chorley started the crop circle phenomenon in 1978 and were awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in 1992 for their crop circle hoaxing. Various hypotheses have been offered to explain the formation of crop circles of unknown origin, ranging from the naturalistic to the paranormal . The main naturalistic explanation suggests that all crop circles are man-made, primarily as a hoax. Another naturalistic explanation is that they are caused by ball lightning . Paranorma...