Geologists will be able to study — and better understand — outcrops in dramatically improved ways thanks to laser technology that already is providing new perspectives in the hunt for hydrocarbons. Pictured on our cover, along with the laser equipment, is Jerome Bellian, with the Bureau of Economic Geology, who was doing the research for the RCRL Industry Consortium in Chile (top) and Victorio Canyon in west Texas' Permian Basin. The three Permian laser images (of the area behind Bellian in the bottom shot) are examples of what researchers call "great potential" for exploration.<em>Photographs and laser images courtesy of the Bureau of Economic Geology in Austin, Texas.</em>