Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

It amazes me what scientists can discover about history using technology. Watching Battlestar Galatica gets me really excited about all that is unknown about space and our universe. These news briefs on research in the field are equally as thrilling.

Making use of an Infrared Array Camera on NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, astromers in the UK are working on the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey, a project that will make a very large map of the sky, capable of detecting extremely faint galaxies. The primary aim is to chart the distribution of stars and black holes from when the Universe was less than a billion years old to the present day.

The survey is one of the largest ever awards of observing time on a space-based observatory – a total of 1400 hours. [via Science Daily]

I can certainly see humans having sex with robots — it’s the perfect combination of vibrator and blow-up doll, right? Creepy as it is, humans have been doing creepy, icky, wtf-are-they-thinking things for centuries all in the name of getting off. But marriage? That’s a whole other story. It’s a bit concerning to think that humans might one day marry robots. If robots can be designed to be the perfect mate, why on earth would we need our current SOs? Of course, not everyone is going to jump at the opportunity to walk down the aisle with silicon.

“My forecast is that around 2050, the state of Massachusetts will be the first jurisdiction to legalize marriages with robots,” artificial intelligence researcher David Levy at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands told LiveScience. Levy recently completed his Ph.D. work on the subject of human-robot relationships, covering many of the privileges and practices that generally come with marriage as well as outside of it. — MSNBC.

The whole notion of robots actually looking and feeling enough like humans to even be the marrying type disturbs me a bit. And I consider myself an open-minded type. What do you think? [via MSNBC]

Ashley, who started the site WhateverLife.com as a hobby when she was 14, reminds me a bit of myself back in high school. I spent most of my free time futzing around with layouts on then-popular Opendiary.com, where I started my first blog and taught myself HTML. I missed the MySpace Generation by a few years (even though I’ve spent my time on the site), and was too busy studying for my college final exams by the time I would have otherwise been staying up all night making layouts for the site.

Granted, this Ashley girl’s got talent, and she knows what other teen (girls) want for their MySpace profiles. Talking to CEOs day in and day out, everyone thinks they have the next big idea, but here’s a girl who was just doing this for fun, and boom, she’s earning enough to retire by 30. Or sooner.

Guess that’s a lesson to all of us. Follow your passions, and these things just work out. For some people, they work out better than for others.

It’s pretty amazing how years fly by, one after another. Relationships of all kinds start and end, thing that you think are certain turn out to lack any substantive reality.

As a grown up, I’m approaching life one day at a time. I don’t feel very grown up. My happiness lies in design: elegant, complex, with angles sharp and smooth, curved and wildly jagged. In my heart there is an artist who has lost her way, afraid of her own instincts, in fear she’d never be good enough.

The lesson time has taught is that running from fear is never the right answer, for one will soon find that fear tells us we’ve met a challenge we’re meant to overcome. Fear is passion. It boils down into the magnetic path of blood flowing in a painter’s arm, shoots darts out of eyes gazing at cascading style sheets and the end result. Fear becomes stronger with each year that passes, but through failures and successes along the way, one learns more about what that fear means, and how to best address a plan of attack to fight it.

If you like pink, I’m doubting you like bugs. But, come on, isn’t this pink bug just the cutest little bug you ever did see? [via Pink Tentacle]

The picture had me wondering if there are any other pink bugs flying about the universe. Here are a few more…

Here’s a pink bug that was found in Michigan back in 2005 [via the Bug Guide]

This one was found in China [via Travelblog.org]

Apparently I’m not the only one fascinated with food art. This veggie sculpture has increased my fondness for mushrooms by at least 300 percent. In fact, I’m craving one of those delicious ‘shrooms right now. [via: BoingBoing; I.Z. Reloaded]

Since I’m pretty much a vegetarian (I eat fish on occasion) these PSA’s don’t really phase me one way or another. Still, I don’t believe much of the health hype about living a vegetarian lifestyle.

“I feel so much better and have so much more energy,” the vegan Alicia says in her PSA. I’ve been a veg for many years now, but I’m pretty sure I’d have more energy if I ate meat. Of course, I’m the least healthy vegetarian in the world, and I’m sure I’m missing about every essential nutrient required to function with this “energy” Ms. Silverstone speaks of while flashing her butt crack.

Anyway, I’m not sure how many folks the ad will convert, but surely it’s going to hold a viewer’s attention long enough for them to realize what this ad featuring “that girl from Clueless, naked” is all about. Then they’ll probably munch on another chicken wing.

Katherine Heigl, who took home “Best Supporting Actress in a Drama,” wore the most memorable outfit of the evening. Decked in all white, this gown will likely inspire brides in the coming year. But the gown itself wasn’t anything too special. I liked the neckline and the shoulders. The slinky straps with the draping off-the-shoulder sleeves were a delicate touch accentuating her best accessory: a beaming smile. I wasn’t a huge fan of the bottom of the dress. The curved seam, while not terribly unflattering, didn’t do anything for the frock (other than, perhaps, make it easier to walk in). — I might be the only person in the world who loved that Heigl’s hair had fallen out of place during her acceptance speech. The slight imperfection added a nice human touch to her statuesque presence.

Jamie Pressley reminded me of a fish. She’s such a tiny girl and she seemed lost in her dress. I would have preffered to see her in an lighter hue with less odd draping around the chest.

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I love the color of Helen Mirren’s frock, but that’s about all the positives I can say about this dress. The seem down the center splits her in half in a very unflattering manner, and the chest line drags down towards that line. The broach in between her breasts is pulling the neck down even more, likely, and it would be better if it wasn’t there at all. While I’m a fan of the color of this dress, I don’t think it works on her skin tone. She would have looked devine in a deep red or dark blue gown.

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I love this dress. It’s simple, elegant, and is balanced perfectly with Debra Messings red hair. The long dangling earrings are a nice touch. This gown works given its mix of delicate white and the harsh black stripping contrast.

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This dress could’ve been gorgeous, had the waistline been dropped a foot or so. Is Hayden Panettiere pregnant? If not, there’s no excuse for this dress. She’s completely lost under it. I’m not in love with the color, but it works fine on her. The sillouette, however, leaves plenty to be desired.

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This dress works for me up to the neckline. Something feels odd, like the entire chest portion of the dress was accidently sewn too far apart, leaving a huge gab for non-existent cleavage in the middle. She looks beautiful anyway, as her simple hair is a perfect match with this beaded frock, but really now, what’s up with the dresses’ chest?

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Britney and Christina were once on an equal playing field when it came to trash factor. Now Britney is more trash and Christina’s gone class. In this hot Valentino gown bursting with a dominatrix-meets-babydoll femininity, Christina looks spectacular. The angles created by the black bow follow the lines of the dress, instead of fighting with them, which helps elongate her petite figure. It’s nice to see Christina all grown up.

A: Try really, really, really hard to stay out of trouble with the police for the rest of your life, and thank your lucky stars that you got away with the crime.

B: Write a book about exactly how you committed the murder and pose the confession as a hypothesis of how the crime could have happened “if” you did it.

C: Break into a hotel room in an armed robbery where you’re likely to get caught.

D: B & C.

Well, if you’ve been paying any attention to the news lately, I bet you got an “A” on this test by answering D.

Now, it pains me to attempt comprehension of the stupidity of OJ Simpson. It just doesn’t make sense. He got away with murder, but that’s not enough, apparently. Simpson’s got to shake things up once in a while just to make sure folks remember his creepy smiling face. He’s charged with committing seven felonies, including kidnapping, in the armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors in a casino hotel room. All in the time for the release of his lovely memoir “(If) I did It.”

Not that it makes any sense to push for sales of the book, since all of the proceeds will go to the Goldman family, who now own the rights to the book. Is it just me, or is it nutso that the guy was tried and acquitted for murder but later found financially liable in a civil trial. I’m no lawyer, but he’s either guilty or not guilty. He can’t be both. Someone must be wrong here.