New Scientist: The infamous 1970s drought of the African Sahel region, which lasted several decades and killed more than 100,000 people, was actually a “minor” event, say researchers who have uncovered evidence that such droughts occur cyclically in the region and can be much more severe. Timothy Shanahan and colleagues at the University of Texas, Austin, analysed the first rainfall dataset that spans several millennia. “What’s disconcerting about this record is that it suggests the most recent …