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Crop circles fascinate the curious. They're weird, they're eye-catching, and they defy immediate explanation. Upon looking more closely, however, it becomes obvious that these huge patterns, usually geometric and appearing in fields without the permission of presiding farmers, are actually less than meets the eye. Crop circles don't provide evidence of extraterrestrial life in any way, and what follow are the eight most solid reasons why not.

1) Humans have confessed to doing the job. While the origin of crop circles was mystery for nearly two decades, several groups later came forward to take responsibility for their "field work." Two men, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, admitted in 1991 that they had created the first crop circles of 1976, as well as several more in the following years. Their artful vandalism inspired many more people to take up the hobby. By now, circle-making is popular enough to have its own website community: circlemakers.org.

2) Crop circles are easy to make, and the people who make them can prove it. Only a long wooden board, some rope, a hat, a ball of string, some wire, and an elementary knowledge of geometry are required to make even the most complex crop circle pattern.

The board is used to bend and flatten large swaths of plant life: all you have to do is tie each end of the rope to each end of the board, and use it as a handle while pushing the board along with your foot. Other long hard objects, like PVC pipe, can be used instead of planks or boards.

The string is used to measure the radius of a proposed circle from a central point, keeping the roundness perfect as the circle-maker gradually moves outward, flattening in a spiral pattern. Wire, dangling from a hat with a loop at the end, is used to help circle-makers focus on a particular landmark when copying their planned pattern.

While areal images of gigantic crop patterns can be breathtaking, would intelligent alien life be likely to bother using such an easily-reproduced method of communication? Of course not. Any intelligent civilization advanced enough to cross the vast distance necessary to reach Earth must also understand the importance of healthy skepticism. The only way a rational alien civilization could expect to communicate with ours would be by indubitable means. Visiting aliens would know where the burden of proof rests: on themselves.

3) The experts aren't really experts. Some cereologists (believers who study crop circles professionally) claim, despite human confessions,

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