The Sahara isn't exactly the place where you would want to store your DNA for a few millennia and expect it to still be readable, so it was a bit of a sensation that researchers recently published the first genome-wide analysis of 7000-year-old DNA of humans who lived there, when it wasn't a desert yet. A good excuse to look a bit more closely at the "Green Sahara" and how it became the Sahara desert we know today. It also serves as a warning, as some places are at risk of desertification due to climate change.
The resulting feature is out now:
Becoming a desert
Current Biology Volume 35, Issue 10, 19 May 2025, Pages R357-R359
Restricted access to full text and PDF download
(contact me if you would like a PDF)
See also my Mastodon thread where I highlighted all CB features of 2025.
The thread for 2024 is here .
The Acacus Mountains in Southwest Libya, where archaeological excavations at sites such as the Takarkori Cave have revealed a rich fauna and human habitation during the African Humid Period. (Photo: Franzfoto/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).)
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