Editing Crop circle (section)

=== Alternative explanations ===
In science magazines from the 1980s and 1990s, for example ''[[Science Illustrated]]'', one could read reports suggesting that the plants were bent by something that could be microwave radiation, rather than broken by physical impact. The magazines also contained serious reports of the absence of human influence and measurement of unusual radiation. Today, this is considered to be pseudoscience, while at the time it was subject of serious research. At that time, it was also more likely that an unknown factor was behind the incidents, not least seen in light of the fact that GPS was not available to the public.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 July 2016 |title=Crop circle research held back by UFO conspiracy links |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2016-07-26/scientific-crop-circle-research-held-back-by-ufo-links/7660712 |newspaper=ABC News}}</ref>

==== Paranormal ====
[[File:Colour sketch of a spaceship creating crop circles.jpg|thumb|Sketch of a "spaceship" creating crop circles, sent to UK [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] circa 1998]]

Since becoming the focus of widespread media attention in the 1980s, crop circles have been the subject of speculation by various [[paranormal]], [[ufological]], and [[Anomalistics|anomalistic]] investigators, ranging from proposals that they were created by bizarre meteorological phenomena to messages from [[extraterrestrial beings]].<ref name="csicop" /><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5777580/Mayan-apocalypse-crop-circle-appears-at-Silbury-Hill.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5777580/Mayan-apocalypse-crop-circle-appears-at-Silbury-Hill.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title= Mayan 'apocalypse' crop circle appears at Silbury Hill |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date= 8 July 2009}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="Haselhoff1">{{cite book |author= Eltjo Haselhoff |year= 2001 |title= The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research & Urban Legends |publisher= Frog Ltd |isbn= 1583940464}}</ref><ref name="clark1">{{cite book |author1= Jerome Clark |author2= Nancy Pear |year= 1995 |title= Strange and Unexplained Happenings: When Nature Breaks the Rules of Science |publisher= [[Gale (publisher)|Gale]] |volume= 3 |isbn= 0810397803 |url= https://archive.org/details/strangeunexplain0000unse }}</ref> There has also been speculation that crop circles have a relation to [[ley line]]s.<ref name="Haselhoff1" />{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages=138–139}}<ref name="faussett1">{{cite book |author= Charles Godfrey-Faussett |year= 2004 |title= England |series= Footprint Travel Guides |isbn= 1903471915 |url= https://archive.org/details/footprintengland00godf }}</ref>

Some paranormal advocates think that crop circles are caused by [[ball lightning]] and that the patterns are so complex that they have to be controlled by some entity.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|page=138}} Some proposed entities are: [[Gaia hypothesis|Gaia]] asking to stop [[global warming]] and human [[pollution]]; [[God]]; supernatural beings (for example Indian [[Deva (Hinduism)|devas]]); the collective minds of humanity through a proposed "quantum field"; and extraterrestrial beings.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|page=138}}

Responding to local beliefs that "extraterrestrial beings" in UFOs were responsible for crop circles appearing, the Indonesian [[National Institute of Aeronautics and Space]] (LAPAN) described crop circles as "man-made". {{ill|Thomas Djamaluddin|id}}, research professor of astronomy and astrophysics at LAPAN stated, "We have come to agree that this 'thing' cannot be scientifically proven." Among others, paranormal enthusiasts, ufologists, and anomalistic investigators have offered hypothetical explanations that have been criticised as [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] by [[scientific skepticism|sceptical]] groups and scientists, including the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]].<ref name="vidal guardian">{{cite news |author= John Vidal |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jun/05/ruralaffairs |title= The bizarre revival of crop circles – and advice on how to make your own |newspaper= The Guardian |date= 5 June 2009}}</ref><ref name="nickell1996">{{cite journal |author= Joe Nickell |author-link= Joe Nickell |journal= [[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date= June 1996 |volume= 6 |issue= 2 |url= http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/levengoods_crop-circle_plant_research |title= Levengood's crop-circle plant research |ref= {{harvid|Nickell|1996}} |access-date= 31 March 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100309051544/http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/levengoods_crop-circle_plant_research/ |archive-date= 9 March 2010 |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref name="levengood1994">{{cite journal|author=W.C. Levengood |year=1994 |url=http://icircle.home.xs4all.nl/dcircles/Levengood_Physiologia.htm |title=Anatomical anomalies in crop formation plants |journal=[[Physiologia Plantarum]] |volume=92 |pages=356–63 |issn=0031-9317 |doi=10.1111/j.1399-3054.1994.tb05348.x |issue=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128201931/http://icircle.home.xs4all.nl/dcircles/Levengood_Physiologia.htm |archive-date=28 January 2012 }}</ref><ref name="Krismantari">{{cite news|author=Ika Krismantari |url=http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/2/6/focus/7978671&sec=focus |title=Crop circles provide food for thought |newspaper=[[The Star (Malaysia)|The Star]] |date=6 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030122405/http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2011%2F2%2F6%2Ffocus%2F7978671&sec=focus |archive-date=30 October 2012 }}</ref> No credible evidence of extraterrestrial origin has been presented.

==== Changes to crops ====
A small number of scientists (physicist Eltjo Haselhoff, the late<!--described as semi-retired by csicop source--> biophysicist William Levengood) have claimed to observe differences between the crops inside the circles and outside them, citing this as evidence they were not man made.<ref name="Taylor2011" /><ref name="csicop" /> Levengood published papers in journal ''[[Physiologia Plantarum]]'' in 1994<ref name="levengood1994" /> and 1999.<ref name="levengood1999">{{cite journal |author1= W.C. Levengood |author2= Nancy P. Talbott |s2cid= 67753725 |year= 1999 |title= Dispersion of energies in worldwide crop formations |journal= Physiologia Plantarum |volume= 105 |issue= 4 |pages= 615–24 |doi=10.1034/j.1399-3054.1999.105404.x}}</ref> In his 1994 paper he found that certain deformities in the grain inside the circles were correlated to the position of the grain inside the circle.<ref name="csicop" /> 

In 1996, [[Joe Nickell]] objected that [[correlation is not causation]],<ref name="csicop" /> raising several objections to Levengood's methods and assumptions,<ref name="nickell1996" /> and said, "Until his work is independently replicated by qualified scientists doing 'double-blind' studies and otherwise following stringent scientific protocols, there seems no need to take seriously the many dubious claims that Levengood makes, including his similar ones involving plants at alleged '[[cattle mutilation]]' sites." Nickell also criticised Levengood for using circular logic, stating: "There is, in fact, no satisfactory evidence that a single “genuine” (i.e., vortex-produced) crop-circle exists, so Levengood’s reasoning is circular: Although there are no guaranteed genuine formations on which to conduct research, the research supposedly proves the genuineness of the formations."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/levengoods_crop-circle_plant_research/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100309051544/http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/levengoods_crop-circle_plant_research/ | archive-date=9 March 2010 | title=Levengood's Crop-Circle Plant Research &#124; Skeptical Inquirer | date=June 1996 }}</ref>

Advocates of non-human causes discount on-site evidence of human involvement as attempts to discredit the phenomena.{{sfn|Margry & Roodenburg|2007|pages=143–145}} When Ridley wrote negative articles in newspapers, he was accused of spreading "government disinformation" and of working for the UK military intelligence service [[MI5]].<ref name="Ridley" /> Ridley responded by noting that many "cereologists" make good livings from selling books and providing high-priced personal tours through crop fields, and he claimed that they have vested interests in rejecting what is by far the most likely explanation for the circles.<ref name="Ridley" /><ref name="Ridley WSJ">{{cite news |last=Ridley |first=Matt |date=4 June 2011 |title=Houdini, crop circles and the need to believe |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303657404576357462969207014 |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref>