Elongated and blown nodes
This is the result of brief, intense heat. The moisture in the plant is turned to steam by this yet unknown energy, that resembles microwave energy. As a result, the moisture expands (steam takes up more space than moisture). If the plant is not ripe yet, the rising pressure can be absorbed by the nodes: the most flexible parts of the plant. These nodes expand and remain forever in the outstreched position. They do not and can not stretch back into their original position. One can often find these elongated nodes in crop formations that appear in the early crop season (April, May, June).
In ripe crop however (in July, August and September) the plants are no longer that flexible. As a result, the plants cannot absorb the pressure of the expanding steam, and the nodes explode like an egg in a microwave oven. The scientific word for exploded nodes is 'expulsion cavities', but in the fields we simply talk about 'blown nodes'...
You will never find elongated and blown nodes in man-made crop circles. They simply cannot be the result of mechanical damage.
