I know you jest, but it's not like the scientists pushed the container overboard.
So - using disasters to discover new things, for science!
My favorite example of that is still the discovery of radiotrophic fungi[1] in Chernobyl.
It's just so cool to find out about species that feed on radiation. Too bad it takes a local-nuclear-apocalypse level of disaster for that to have happened.
This is offtopic, but can you please post that article with this title to /r/nottheonion? "Contrails" instead of "vapor trails" might make it even better, but it's damn near perfect as is.
