Probe This

If everything goes to plan, in a few hours time the Japanese space probe Hayabusa will be landing in Australia. It will be a significant scientific development, because the craft will be returning with a sample from an asteroid. And while we Earthbound humans can study meteorites that fall from the sky, this will be mankind's first opportunity to study a sample that has not been affected by the fiery heat of a plunge through our atmosphere.

Of course, there's also the slight possibility that the sample will spawn a giant shape shifting gelatinous creature that devours humans whole, but that's about as likely as an oil well experiencing an uncontrolled blowout a mile beneath the ocean's surface.