Crop Circle according to Physicist and Expert Scientist, PART - 2

Ok, let's continue the second part of the article "Crop Circle according to Physicist and Expert Scientist".

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Creating Math Patterns

After Bower and Chorley announced their work, the pictographs they created inspired a second wave of crop circle artists. Far from abating, crop circles have evolved into an international phenomenon with hundreds of intricate pictograph patterns appearing every year around the world. Although half of the crop circles that appear are in England, these formations also appear in Europe, America, Russia, Australia, Japan, and India.

Interestingly, the artists who claim to have made crop circles in the past do not know who is responsible for the extraordinary works that have appeared recently. This is because many crop circle artists follow the custom started by their predecessors: anonymously creating their pictographs at night and leaving the location without any traces left behind.

Although the artists were also traditionalists in this respect, their work was significantly more developed. This is because today's artists have access to computers, GPS, and laser equipment to help them map out patterns, in which Bower has to create straight lines with the eye aided by a cable attached to his hat.

Scientists interested in the mathematics of crop circles and how they are planning to have two options: They can stalk cars parked in country pubs late at night in hopes of catching the artist red-handed, or they can apply pattern analysis techniques to the works. The work. History shows that reconnaissance methods have proven to be more risky.

Attempts to capture mapping techniques on film have sparked a game of cat and mouse between artists and researchers where the artist's secrecy usually embarrasses researchers.

In 1990, for example, a well-known crop circle researcher who is also an engineer, Colin Andrews, coordinated an operation called Blackbird in which an area near Westbury, Wiltshire, was fitted with surveillance cameras by the BBC and monitored by officers from the department of defense. Despite his careful planning, when the sun rose the next morning, the artist proved to be able to crawl through the darkness of the night, do his job, and leave unnoticed. In 1996, too enthusiastic researchers were put to shame when a hoax video clip called Oliver Castle Crop Circle appeared to the public.

So it's not surprising that most researchers will forget about surveillance and start analyzing the patterns left by these ingenious artists. Research of this kind was first published in 1996 in Science News by Gerard Hawkins (then an astronomer at Boston University). He examined the many crop circles that appeared between 1978-1988. 25 of them have only one circle, many circles and circles with concentric rings. Even despite such primitive patterns, Hawkin finds a hidden artistic language.

He discovered that all of the formations were created using hidden construction lines that were used in the design stage but did not show up in the final output. An example is shown by the blue lines in the image below, while the yellow pattern shows the final result.

Then Hawkin uses these construction lines to demonstrate that crop circles are more than just patterns that are in random positions. The construction lines actually have relative sizes and positions that form a very exotic character. For example, the ratios of the various diameters and areas between the designs turn out to be similar to the "diatonic ratios" of the white keys on a piano. These ratios are the frequency ratio of the notes “Middle D” to C. For example 297/264 Hz = 9/8.

The idea that crop circle formations have fundamental geometrical harmonies that match musical chords eventually inspired some musicians to use computer algorithms to turn these formations into melodies. And the most famous “translator” is Paul Vigay. Sample music can be heard at Paul Vigay Vid.

So today's crop circle designs are increasingly complex, including more than 2,000 individual shapes arranged using construction lines invisible to the casual observer. Improvements in computer power also means that the same mathematical equations repeated over and over are now being used to produce fractal shapes like the Triple Julia Design that appeared back in Switzerland in 2010. Other well-known fractal shapes include the Mandelbrot set, Julia Set and Koch Snowflake which have appeared regularly since 1991.

Koch Sniwflake

Mandelbrot

Create Crop Circles

Even the initial stages of crop circle construction is a difficult job. The first appearance of the triple Julia line-up in July 1995 was preceded by Single Julia a few weeks earlier.

Single Julia

To measure this “warm up” design, a team of 11 people took 5 hours and an appraisal company estimated it would take at least 5 days to map out each part of the interwoven three-circle pattern. But after the mapping is complete, crop circle artists still have to face a complex problem: If making these patterns on paper is already a difficult job, how do you print these patterns in a field?

Traditional crop circle makers use “stompers” (a plank of wood attached to two ropes), twine and a garden grinder plus benches to help the artist not damage the grain. Despite their old-fashioned appearance, stompers prove to be very effective tools for leveling grain when used by experienced hands. However, modern designs have evolved beyond traditional requirements. The patterns are now shaped to produce complex geometric textures. For example, the wheat stalks inside each circle of the Triple Julia pattern turn out to be spirals. Layers of the bent stalks can also be interwoven, creating a shaded texture that changes with exposure to sunlight due to the stalks phototopic response.

Thus, to print large-sized pictographs before sunrise, today's artists must work in a well-coordinated team. One well-known team was the Circlemakers, and when they allowed the BBC crew to record them making crop circles of 100 roulette circles in 1998, the team could make one circle every minute. One of its members, Will Russell, summarizes their motivation, which is to "push the boundaries in people's minds about human capabilities." Russell's partner, Rod Dickinson emphasized that at this speed, they could make the Triple Julia pattern in one night.

Despite such claims, the large and accurate size of Triple Julia will of course be far more challenging than the circlemakers' roulette. There are further signs that traditional manufacturing methods are reaching their limits. One pictograph that appeared in 2009 alone took 3 nights to complete. The pattern is visible in the image below.

If the artists wanted to maintain the secrecy of this movement, it was clear they would need a more efficient method of construction.

Biophysics Speculation

Interestingly, several experiments conducted by biophysicists have found it possible that crop circle artists may indeed have changed their methods.

Independent studies published in 1999 and 2011 show evidence of radiation exposure to wheat. The patterns studied are those that emerged in the mid-1990s and include Triple Julia. The image below shows the results of research on the “pulvini”, the elastic joints that appear on the stalks of wheat.

Eltjo Haselhoff, a physicist and a medical expert, discovered that Pulvini in wheat stalks was curved. This is different from the condition of normal wheat stalks outside the crop circle.

Although several factors can cause the Pulvini to bend, such as Gravitropism (the direction the wheat stalks bend due to gravity) and Lodging (the wheat stalks bend due to wind and rain), Haselhoff dismissed both as causes due to the symmetrical bending from the center of the circle to the edges.

Haselhoff's discovery confirms the research results of William Levengood, a biophysicist from the agricultural consulting firm, Pinelandia Biophysics Laboratory in Michigan. Levengood also found similar results in 95% of 250 crop circle formations in seven countries. He proposed the theory that the curved Pulvini was caused by heat from electromagnetic radiation. Such radiation can cause wheat stalks to drop and cool parallel to the ground. He also found other evidence supporting the heat theory, namely changes in the cellular structure of the wheat and the large number of dead flies trapped in the wheat seeds.

Levengood and Haselhoff then followed up their work by removing the wheat seeds from the field and placing them in a special room that had controlled light, humidity, and temperature. They found that seeds taken from outside the crop circle grew at a normal level, while seeds from inside the crop circle grew four times slower. Although the results of their research were published in Physiologia Plantarum, a peer reviewed journal dedicated to the science of plant growth, their findings failed to start the crop circle debate.

Speculation of the two also did not help at all. Levengood interpreted the results of his research as proof of the Vortex Meaden plasma theory. Meanwhile, Haselhoff speculated that the source of the radiation was mysterious balls of light that were often seen floating above crop circles. Given this situation, researchers hesitated to further explore the controversial findings and Levengood and Haselhoff's research was never confirmed or rejected by subsequent studies.

As a consequence, their research only continues to fuel long-standing debates about human hoaxers, atmospheric effects and of course extra-terrestrial artists.

Last years on June, I entered into the debate by writing in Nature that extra-terrestrial artists would not need to bend any laws, but they would need mathematical skills to devise modern designs and scientific awareness to exploit advances in technology. My writing ended up bringing hateful emails from UFOlogists and others accusing me of spreading misinformation as part of a conspiracy operation.

Then I went on a conspiracy website to see who was my conspiracy partner and found that the scapegoats were the British, German and US Secret Service governments.

While alien and government conspiracies cannot be ruled out with 100% certainty, Occam's Razor (which states that the explanation that involves the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct) supports the human artist's scenario. Could it be that some artists have applied these physics techniques to microwaves?

Interestingly, a crop circle research group called BLT Research claims to be able to replicate the changes that occur in Pulvini by exposing it to microwaves generated from a magnetron taken from a microwave oven. Today's magnetrons are very small and light and only require a 12 volt battery.

Haselhoff and Levengood used the Beer-Lambert principle which relates radiation absorption to material features to construct the Pulvini curvature model. For a crop circle measuring 9 meters, the Haselhoff model indicates that the radiation source must be located 4 meters above the center point of the circle. After being heated with this source, the wheat stalks will easily be directed as desired, thereby speeding up the time for making crop circles.

Although this interesting hypothesis fits the facts, biophysicists still seem to need to expand on these initial experiments if the argument is to be accepted.

Still looking for a solution

Defining the technology behind the creation of crop circles clearly has implications that go beyond mere curiosity or art appreciation.

Traces of some patterns (ghost formations) can still be seen on the fields today. This is in accordance with Levengood's observation that crop circles have an impact on wheat growth. Crop circles will be harvested every year and these spoiled grains will enter the human food chain. Interestingly, Levengood's research shows that stunted wheat growth comes from crop circles appearing earlier on undeveloped plants. However, he also reported that if seeds were removed from crop circles that appeared on mature plants, the growth rate actually increased by 5 times. This led Levengood to develop a Molecular Impulse Response technology that can accelerate wheat growth by giving it a molecular beam.

Crop circle artists will not reveal their secrets easily. Researchers studying modern pictographs must quickly fly into the air to photograph the newest patterns before they are lost to harvesters. This summer, unknown artists will be wandering the suburbs near your home carrying their gear, safe in the knowledge that they are carrying on the legacy of one of the most science-oriented art movements in history. Can you unlock the secret to their success?