Lost people really do walk in circles

If you get lost, it can often feel like you are walking in circles trying to find your way ... scientists claim that's because you are.

Researchers say books and movies where people who are lost in a desert cross their own tracks are more realistic than previously thought, and that is is incredibly hard to walk in a straight line.

They used GPS trackers on nine people who were dropped off and left to wander in the Sahara desert (Tunisia) and in the Bienwald forest (Germany) for several hours.

While they had been told to walk in a straight line, all ended up walking in a circle and crossing their own tracks.

The scientists think this is because people have an increasing uncertainty about where straight ahead is and try to adjust for it ... not because they have one leg longer than the other.