Damn the old co gas, cause climate never changes by itself or for another reason.
(Reuters) -The Sahara Desert is one of Earth's most arid and desolate places, stretching across a swathe of North Africa that spans parts of 11 countries and covers an area comparable to China or the United States. But it has not always been so inhospitable.
During a period from about 14,500 to 5,000 years ago, it was a lush green savannah rich in bodies of water and teeming with life. And, according to DNA obtained from the remains of two individuals who lived about 7,000 years ago in what is now Libya, it was home to a mysterious lineage of people isolated from the outside world.
"At the time, Takarkori was a lush savannah with a nearby lake, unlike today's arid desert landscape," said archaeogeneticist Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, one of the authors of the study published this week in the journal Nature.
In the vast desert expanses of Egypt, nestled in the West of the Nile, lies a remarkable site that tells a story of transformation spanning millions of years. Known as Wadi Al-Hitan, or the Valley of the Whales, this UNESCO World Heritage Site captures a pivotal chapter in Earth's evolutionary history. Here, fossils of ancient whales are preserved in remarkable detail, offering a window into a world where the now-arid desert was once a flourishing ocean.