Notebook

In today's overpublished research environment, what kind of work captures the world's attention? Los Alamos National Laboratory geologist Fraser Goff has an answer. Last month, at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting in Seattle, he presented a paper reporting that the Galeras volcano in Colombia releases gold into the atmosphere during eruptive episodes. While gold, silver, and platinum are commonly present in rocks from eruptions of extinct volcanoes, Goff explains, "here was an example where we actually found it in a live volcano." His report has "generated a lot more interest than I was expecting," says Goff, who was attending a conference in Colombia in January 1993 when the eruption occurred, killing nine people, six of whom were scientists. "Reporters from Spanish-language papers asked me questions like: Have I staked it?" For enterprising souls who think they can "run around with baskets, collecting nuggets," Goff adds a note of ...