evidence: Seclusion was key to the secret activities conducted in this out-of-the-way spot. Located 3,500km from Moscow, in the middle of a remote inland sea surrounded by sparsely populated desert deep in the heart of central Asia, the island was the perfect proving ground for a deadly array of airborne microbes. The name of this place, Vozrozhdeniye, appealed to me for its bitter irony. It means Rebirth Island. [...] Not any more. The waters of the Aral Sea have been receding for the past 50 years, sucked away by irrigation schemes. As its level has declined, the island has grown: in 1960 it was about 200 sq km; today Vozrozhdeniye is more than 10 times that size. In fact, it's now no longer an island. The Aral has shrunk so much that Vozrozhdeniye is today connected by a land bridge to the southern coast, in Uzbekistan. Authorities in both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which share the former island's territory, do not encourage visitors. Almost all of the agents responsible for the deadly diseases tested on Vozrozhdeniye are quickly destroyed when exposed to ultraviolet light. The island's sparse vegetation, hot desert climate, and sandy soil - which reaches summer temperatures of 60°C - all sharply reduce the possibility that pathogenic microorganisms can survive. The important exception is anthrax, a spore that outlives all the others. It can persist in soil for a very long time, and if any spores reach the lungs the chance of death is usually greater than 90%.