A Minute of Your Time: The Vanishing Aral Sea official

The Aral Sea, once one of the largest inland seas in the world, has all but vanished thanks to poor environmental management by the countries on its shores, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Now, however, efforts to restore the sea have sprouted, at least on the Kazakh side. The Uzbeks, on the other hand, know that a dry sea could mean big oil discoveries...and they just might be willing to let maps everywhere lose a blue spot to find out.