kazakhstan built a dam that's actually helped partially refill the northern portion, so it's not a total lost cause, just permanently smaller.
soviet irrigation projects diverted the rivers feeding it starting in the 60s and it just... shrank. by the 2000s it was a fraction of its original size, leaving behind salt flats and rusted fishing boats stranded miles from any water. one of the biggest human-caused environmental disasters out there.
the exposed seabed dust, mixed with old pesticide runoff, causes serious respiratory health issues for people living nearby even today.