There's nothing like taking a nice Hawaiian stroll out to collect a bit of molten Earth stuff.
That's what a geologist from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) did to collect some samples from the active Puʻu ʻŌʻō zone of the Kīlauea volcano in Hawaii on September 28th. According to the HVO, a lava pond's been active in the area's crater for months now.
If that activity sounds particularly dangerous, that's because it can be. But they do everything they can to not get themselves covered in lava, but anyone looking to get scoop of a bit of lava has to make sure they're in a position to avoid the intense heat the volcano can produce, potentially overwhelming the vulcanologist.
In the video taken of the collection, for example, a geologist uses a rock hammer to tear off the crust of a bit of lava that's on the edge of the active area, dips the hammer in to the lava, and drops it off in a bucket of water to cool and prevent any further crystallization. Which is all to say, it's really cool to watch somebody nonchalantly scoop up some lava.