The scientific mystery of the "fairy circles" that cover Australia's deserts may have finally been solved with the help of ancient knowledge.
The patches of bare ground, which form in circles between two and 12 metres wide, were originally recorded in Africa in the 1970s, but it took until now for scientists to pinpoint what they are.
Fiona Walsh, an ethnoecologist - who studies how people perceive and manipulate their environments - had previously argued they were the result of nearby plants competing for water.
