A natural phenomenon consisting of polka-dot-style formations has been cropping up around the world, and scientists are baffled as to why. The circular-shaped patches of ground have been seen in deserts in Australia and Namibia but now experts believe they are more widespread than originally thought. Known as “fairy circles”, there are now 263 known sites across the globe where they can be found, according to new research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). They have been documented in 15 countries, across three continents, including the Sahel region of Africa, Madagascar, and in Middle-West Asia. And yet, despite the spread of these anomalies, scientists are still none the wiser about how they actually form. A team led by environmental scientist Emilio Guirado, of the University of Alicante in Spain, explained in their paper on the "intriguing" phenomenon: “We conducted a global and systematic assessment of fairy circle-like vegetation patterns and discovered hundreds of [fairy-circle]-like locations on three continents. “Our study provides insights into the ecology and biogeography of these fascinating vegetation patterns and the first atlas of their global distribution.” The mysterious circles appear in desert regions and can be as wide as 12 metres (39 feet) in diameter. They are almost always spaced out and rarely connect or overlap with one another. Several theories have been put forward as to what causes them, including, tiny insects, termites, and plant toxins. But, none have been accompanied by any significant evidence and some have been debunked completely. One significant factor limiting their study is they are often found in places that are difficult to access and are inhospitable. Locating the 263 different sites of “fairy circles” involved analysing high-resolution satellite imagery. Guirado and his team wrote in their paper: “[The sites] include those already identified in Namibia and Western Australia, as well as areas never described before, including the Sahel, Western Sahara, Horn of Africa, Madagascar, Southwest Asia, or Central and Southwest Australia. “By doing so, our study provides a global atlas of areas showing FC-like vegetation patterns and expands the known existence of this vegetation type to new countries and continents.” The team hopes that locating new sites will enable them to find common traits that may point towards their cause. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Software company Adobe unveiled a new futuristic “digital dress” that lets wearers change patterns on its surface on the fly with the click of a button. The dress, created under Adobe’s “Project Primrose”, is made of sequins which are “reflective light-diffuser modules” built using liquid crystals such as those in smart lighting. Researchers say the sequins are basically tiny screens built using smart materials. The dress was unveiled for the first time for the audience at Adobe’s MAX conference last week with the software company describing it as bringing “fabric to life”. Video from the conference showed Adobe researcher Christine Dierk wearing the strapless outfit, which appeared like an average cocktail dress on first impression, but the patterns on it begin to shift immediately with the touch of a remote button. “Unlike traditional clothing, which is static, Primrose allows me to refresh my look in a moment,” the Adobe scientist said while demonstrating that its colors can go from light to dark in a moment. The researcher-turned-model also showed that the dress not only had static changes, but also animated designs with patterns fading in and out. Ms Dierk, who not only designed the dress but also stitched it herself, demonstrated that the outfit will even respond to movement. Researchers say the dress is built using “reflective-backed polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC)” a material commonly used in smart windows. “This low-power non-emissive material can be cut to any shape, and dynamically diffuses light,” scientists wrote in a study presented at a tech conference last year, but it remains unclear how heavy the dress can actually get. “Designers can layer this technology into clothing, furniture, and other surfaces to unlock infinite style possibilities – such as the ability to download and wear the latest design from a favorite designer,” Adobe noted. They said the high-tech sequins are also used for smaller products part of Project Primrose including a handbag and a canvas. “We hope this work inspires future designers of flexible displays,” scientists said. Read More Photo giant Getty took a leading AI image-maker to court. Now it's also embracing the technology John Warnock, who helped invent the PDF and co-founded Adobe Systems, dies at age 82 In closed forum, tech titans to give senators advice on artificial intelligence Tell us if you think price is the biggest problem with electric cars Sadiq Khan, Met Commissioner to ask phone companies to ‘design out’ theft TikTok details plans for Israel-Hamas war posts

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A new artificial intelligence breakthrough could revolutionise weather forecasts, its creators say. The new technology, built by Google Deepmind, allows for 10-day weather forecasts to be produced in just a minute. And it does so with unprecedented accuracy, Deepmind said. The forecasts made by the GraphCast system are not only more accurate but produced more efficiently, meaning they can be made more quickly and with fewer resources. It can also help spot possible extreme weather events, being able to predict the movement of cyclones and provide early alerts of possible floods and extreme temperatures. Google therefore says it could help save lives by allowing people to better prepare. At the moment, weather forecasts usually rely on a system called Numerical Weather Prediction, which combined physics equations with computer algorithms that are run on supercomputers. That requires vast computing resources as well as detailed expertise by weather forecasters. The new system is one of a range of technologies that instead use deep learning. Instead of looking at physical equations, it learns from weather data and then uses that to model how the Earth’s weather changes over time. Creating the model was intensive, since it required training on decades of weather data. But now that it is created it could vastly reduce the resources required for predicting the weather: 10-day forecasts take a minute on one machine, a process that might otherwise take hours and use hundreds of machines in a supercomputer. In use, the system was able to provide more accurate forecasts than the gold-standard traditional system in 90 per cent of tests, its creators write in a paper newly published in the journal Science. What’s more, the system is able to spot extreme weather events despite not being trained on it. In September for instance it had predicted the path of Hurricane Lee nine days before it arrived, compared to six days for traditional forecasts. Deepmind noted that GraphCast’s prediction of extreme temperatures could be particularly useful given the climate crisis. The system can predict areas where the heat will arrive above the historical top temperatures, allowing people to anticipate heat waves and prepare for them. The company will also open source the system so that it can be used by others. That may help with other new tools and research to help tackle environmental challenges, Deepmind said. Read More Battery breakthrough brings ‘unprecedented performance’ to next-gen cells Meta to allow users to delete Threads accounts without losing Instagram

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