Are these circles made by fairies in desert??? Fairy Circles!

Speaking of circles, desert plants naturally group in weird-looking patterns called fairy circles. See above? Weird right?

It wasn’t really known why until recently, and it turns out Alan Turing predicted the kind of phenomenon back in 1952. 

• It’s not that Alan Turing was kicking about in the desert, as such. 
• What he predicted were Turing patterns, sometimes known as Turing dynamics or Turing instabilities. They are, per Popular Mechanics, “noisy systems that form stable patterns after being stimulated”. 
• “The latest example is in “symmetrically spaced” patches of desert grasses, which grow in naturally orderly equilibrium to maximize each patch’s access to limited water.”
• In Australia and Africa, desert grasses grow in what are called fairy circles, seen vividly in the above image. 
• They’ve long been considered to assemble for their own self-protection, and as a kind of irrigation system. While those circles remain dry, any rain water runs off into surrounding plants.
• Without these patterns, the entire area may be devoid of grass.

Copied from Tristan Rayner‘s (Senior Editor) newsletter of DGiT Daily.