It took just 40 years for the Aral Sea to dry up. Fishing ports suddenly found themselves in a desert. But in one small part of the sea, water is returning.

Once the world's fourth-largest lake, the Aral Sea is now a barren wasteland. This is the story of its dramatic collapse—one of the worst environmental disasters in history.

The deep-sea environment comprises a wealth of distinct ecosystems, such as hydrothermal vents, cold seeps and subsurface habitats. A multitude of bacteria and archaea live in these distant niches ...