The people of Japan are in our thoughts

The disasters in Japan involve the whole world, not just one country. Not only do we send rescue teams, money and supplies, but we also send scientist who study the impact of the disaster.
Preventing loss of life is the final goal. Learning how the Earth and its atmosphere works is the only way to limit the causalities. Sadly, the best time to study earthquakes and tsunamis, comes after the fact.
It takes events like the last two tsunamis, Class 5 hurricanes and tornadoes, or other calamities to learn how to cope when they do occur. Unfortunately people die. 
We have learned from tragedies in the past. A tsunami warning system was activated, and saved many. I'm sure hundreds died while taking refuge in the top floors of their homes. This earthquake and wave were bigger than most were expecting, and even some of the larger buildings were washed away.
The threat of a nuclear meltdown is a real threat, and the situation grows worse everyday. I'm sure reactors will no longer be permitted to be built on active fault lines. Engineers will develop homes able to withstand tsunamis by designing them with reinforced foundations in the shape of a flatiron to deflect a massive wave, with high sturdy rooftops for people to wait out the deluge.
Any area on a geologically active planet could experience catastrophe at any time. There are hazards from space that could strike not only one country, but could effect the entire globe; so far, we haven't experienced anything greater than solar flairs, but I'm sure someday we will. Learning about these natural events will benefit us in the future.

The Meteorite Men must be jumping for joy.

The price of found meteorites just went up. Check out this link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110306/sc_nm/us_meteorites_life
 Now every cosmic find will be studied within a micro-inch of its life.
 Will our search for life on other planets stall while we turn our tunnel vision on meteorites? Obviously the cost of studying pieces of space which have already arrived on the planet is far smaller than gathering particles of dust hundreds of miles above our atmosphere.
 We must continue all research. Someday the questions will be answered, until then we must keep looking everywhere.
 One question that this story brings to my mind is: don't fossils need liquid water to form? If this is true, then this fossilized bacterium must have formed on a larger body. I don't think a fossil could form in the dry vacuum of space. If this an example of extraterrestrial life, it needed to be knocked off some body large enough to hold liquid water by an impact, or there is one other possibility. Is it feasible another solar system existing long before ours, was blown apart by a super nova, spreading the seeds for life all over the cosmos. Remember our solar system is only about 4.5 billion years old; it's estimated the universe is over 13.5 billion years old.
 Life could have evolved several billion years before our solar system was even thought of.
 Brings a whole new meaning to the saying: Sparkle in your fathers eye.