evidence: When the bioweapons complex was erected here, in the mid-20th century, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world with an area of 68,000 square kilometers. But an ill-planned irrigation scheme began to suck disproportionally large amounts of water from the rivers that fed the lake, and the Aral Sea began to shrink. Consequently, Vozrozhdeniya Island began to grow, from 200 square kilometers to nearly ten times its original size. In the early 2000s, the channels to its south dried up completely and the island became part of the mainland. Despite the island’s hazardous past, Vozrozhdeniya is frequently visited by scavengers who pilfer the island’s laboratory buildings as well as those on Kantubek, which also lies in ruins. [...] Vozrozhdeniya Island as in 2017.