Wild Things Plants

What fairy circles teach us about science

fairy circle in Namib Desert

What caused this barren circle to form in the Namib Desert? Scientists have competing ideas, but no one can say for certain.

Jeremy T. Hetzel/Flickr (CC-BY 2.0)

By Sarah Zielinski

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Plants

  1. a stream with mountains in the background
    Ecosystems

    Simple hand-built structures can help streams survive wildfires and drought

    By Brianna Randall
  2. cat rubbing on a catnip plant
    Neuroscience

    Catnip repels insects. Scientists may have finally found out how

    By Erin Garcia de Jesús
  3. pink flower on a cotton plant in the Yucatan Peninsula
    Plants

    Modified genes can distort wild cotton’s interactions with insects

    By Emiliano Rodríguez Mega
  4. Sapria himalayana flower
    Life

    A reeking, parasitic plant lost its body and much of its genetic blueprint

    By Jake Buehler
  5. Venus flytrap grabbing a weight
    Tech

    A robot arm toting a Venus flytrap can grab delicate objects

    By Emily Conover
  6. crested rats
    Plants

    Rats with poisonous hairdos live surprisingly sociable private lives

    By Susan Milius
  7. Fritillaria delavayi plant blending with rocky background
    Plants

    These plants seem like they’re trying to hide from people

    By Jonathan Lambert
  8. farm on Mars, illustrated
    Planetary Science

    Farming on Mars will be a lot harder than ‘The Martian’ made it seem

    By Maria Temming

From the Nature Index

Paid Content