There is a magic about a naturally forming circle. These so called "fairy circles" are a source of wonder and fantasy, a seemingly mystical moment in nature when the randomness of a grassy plain is interrupted by geometric patterns in the grass.

Fairy circles are commonly found in arid places like Australia and Namibia in Africa. (They're different from the circular mushroom formation, known by the same name or as fairy rings.)

But these otherworldly phenomena can in fact be explained by mathematical reasoning, a new study explains.