Aral Sea fate. Since the disappearance of the Southeast Aral in 2008, Vozrozhdeniya effectively no longer exists as a distinct geographical feature. The area is now shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In 1948, a top-secret Soviet bioweapons laboratory was established on the island, in the centre of the Aral Sea which is now disputed territory between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The exact history, functions and current status of this facility are still unclear, but bio-agents tested there included "Bacillus anthracis", "Coxiella burnetii", "Francisella tularensis", "Brucella suis", "Rickettsia prowazekii", "Variola major" (smallpox), "Yersinia pestis", botulinum toxin, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. In 1971, weaponized
Carolyn Drake in the once vibrant region of central Asia that lies between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers that once nourished it. The region, encompassing Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, was transformed when the rivers were diverted for cotton irrigation by the former Soviet Union. Drake's resulting self-published book, "Two Rivers" (2013), was financed via Kickstarter; it was well received by Sean O'Hagan. For Jeffrey Ladd, the book's design (by Sybren Kuiper), notably the way some photographs on recto pages have their right edges on the verso, detracted from it. She spent seven years visiting Xinjiang in western China