Back in May of last year we dove into the ever-booming world of 3D printing when it was revealed that NASA had given $125,000 to engineer Anjan Contractor to develop a machine that could actually print edible food items for astronauts to eat in space. It sounded right out of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs or Star Trek.

The first goal was a favorite of most people: a simple pizza. The machine would print a layer of dough that cooks as the process moves along, then mix a tomato powder with water and oil to create the sauce layer before the final layer of cheese and any protein that might be used is added.

Contractor has made some good progress since then, and a video of the food printing machine in action has been released. You can watch the video of a pizza being printed and see an image of the final product below!

So you thought Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was absurd, eh? Thought the Replicator from the Star Trek universe would always be nothing more than science fiction? Never underestimate what the future might hold.

3D printing has been around for a while, but only recently has it really started taking off, with everything from parts and tools to jewelry and clothing and guns currently being magically manufactured with the push of a button. There’s even work being done on printing fully functional homes and structures for the moon.

One of the things in the middle of much research and development is the 3D printing of actual edible food items. Food printing has been going on for a couple years already using materials like chocolate and cookie dough and masa, but NASA thinks it could get far, far more complex than that. They’ve given $125,000 to engineer Anjan Contractor to work on building a 3D printer that could provide tasty treats such as pizza to astronauts.

The $11 t-shirt deal of the day over at TeeFury today is a Firefly-themed shirt with a nod to the NASA logo called “LEAF” by geekchic_tees.

The sale began at Teefury today, Saturday, March 23, 2013, at midnight EST, and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it will not be sold on the site for $11 anymore, though it might continue into the next day for $14 (look for the After Hours bar at the top).

NASA has posted a video message for St. Patrick’s Day from Expedition 27 Flight Engineer Catherine Coleman, who’s currently aboard the International Space Station.

Watch the video here below.

Coleman, who is part Irish, brought with her on her ISS mission several Irish flutes, courtesy of the Dublin-based group The Chieftains. In the video, she talks a little bit about the instruments and then plays them as she floats inside the space station.

The U.S. Government has recently instituted a process by which citizens can officially petition the White House on any issue that they feel is important via the internet, thanks to a program called We the People. Any petition that receives 25,000 signatures within a certain time frame will receive an official response from the White House.

Now, this is a great way for ordinary people to bring their everyday issues to the forefront and is a great example of what technology can do right. However, it’s also the internet, which means there are going to be a lot of goofy petitions started. This brings us to a petition that was started requesting the government to “secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016″!