I didn't know such a thing as scientific cookies existed, or even that a round-up (or two) were needed to show off all the flavors and possibilities that creative people have come up with. But now I realize I was living in the plain white flour and possibly moldy pantries of mundane cookiedom. Why make a star sugar cookie when you can make a sugar cookie atom?

Luckily, Ms. Humble of Not So Humble Pie is blogging about all the geeky baked goodies she can find, and she's gathered them up in two (so far) round-ups. Of course our inspired cooking pals over at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories are included!

Science Cookie Round Up 1

Science Cookie Round Up 2

More:

• Sierpinksi Cookies

Giant George certainly lives up to his name, he holds the current Guiness World Record for the Tallest Dog (43 inches from paw to shoulder, or 7ft 3in when ’standing’ on his back legs.) I wouldn’t want to have to feed this greatest of great danes (George eats 110 pounds of food per week!), but I’d love to run into him at the park someday.

Found via the Mail Online

A new telescope called VISTA (for the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy)  has just been turned on at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, and has made its first release of pictures. From the ESO site:

VISTA is a survey telescope working at infrared wavelengths and is the world’s largest telescope dedicated to mapping the sky. Its large mirror, wide field of view and very sensitive detectors will reveal a completely new view of the southern sky. Spectacular new images of the Flame Nebula, the centre of our Milky Way galaxy and the Fornax Galaxy Cluster show that it is working extremely well.

Based on this lovely image, I’d say so!

On our last trip to Europe I was particularly impressed with some of the train stations we saw, Berlin’s central train station was amazing. This Design Boom post of striking subway architecture has some real beauties too.

Thanks, Mom!

Ok, I’m fairly obsessed with jellyfish and have always been a big Prince fan, but honestly, I’m not quite feeling this Prince/Jellyfish poser from a recent exhibition by Prince’s designer Anthony Malzone in San Francisco.

Found via World Famous Design Junkies

I had no idea there was a world of modded “My Little Ponies”. These custom ponies are delightful, if not a tad creepy.

Found via Spoon Graphics

Not sure how this partnership came about, but I love this new Adidas Star Wars Collection. You can buy everything from Darth Vader sneakers to shiny jackets and funky tees, all with a decidedly Star Wars bent. Sign me up for the orange high tops and the Millennium Falcon sneaks. The Yoda athletic moccasin loafers are intriguing, too.

Olympic skier Jeret "Speedy" Peterson says tinkering is the spice of life. Photo by NBC Sports / USOC

It's pretty easy to see how knitting might be relaxing and a good way to spend idle time for a person who's on the road a lot. Someone like an Olympic athlete. But taking apart a weed whacker to relieve stress? That's something only a maker can understand, and that's exactly why Olympian Jeret "Speedy" Peterson takes things apart.

The 28-year-old has been taking things apart since he was a wee tot, and has been on the U.S. National Ski Team since he was 16. He's used his building skills to do construction work, and dreams about designing, or at least witnessing, the first magnetic motor. And he's the only person to have completed an intricate 3.2-second jump called the Hurricane.

So this February, while you're watching freestyle skier Speedy perform his signature Hurricane jump, remember that he's likely to be taking apart a lawn mower or dirt bike when he gets home. Just like you or me.

After qualifying for his third Olympics this past December, Speedy was nice enough to answer a few questions for us relating to his tinkering urges. Here's what he had to say...

As anyone who knows me can tell you, this graphic appeals to me on many levels, the most important ones being that it’s funny and it’s all about whether you can eat possibly tainted food. Huzzah!

Here's a great story in the Telegraph about an amateur stargazer who tricked out his garden shed in the U.K. and surprised professional astronomers around the world with his top-notch images.

Peter Shah, 38, cut a hole in the roof of his wooden shed and set up his modest eight-inch telescope inside. After months of patiently waiting for the right moment he emerged with a series of striking images of the Milky Way.

His photographs of a vivid variety of star clusters light years from Earth have been compared to the images taken from the £2.5 billion Hubble space telescope.

But it cost Mr Shah just £20,000 to equip his garden shed with a telescope linked to his home computer. He said: "Most men like to potter about in their garden shed - but mine is a bit more high tech than most."

You can read the full story here.