India, Oct. 27 -- Imagine being told to leave your home right now. No time to pack much. No idea when you can come back. That's what happened to 264 people on Tristan da Cunha in 1961. According to a Royal Society article by archivist Jon Bushell, the island's volcano began to stir that August. By October, everyone had to go, and the farm animals were left behind. A few months later, scientists reached the island and found better news than they had feared.

Tristan da Cunha is a small group of islands in the South Atlantic. You can't fly there, and it's a six-day sail from the nearest port. Its main village, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, had a population of 264 in 1961. The first local earth tremors were felt in August. They became more fr...