What do infravision and searching do again?
Can someone please tell me what infravision and searching do?

Infravision lets you see invisible things (if they are alive) and searching automatically searches for you (what the 's' key does), it's very useful in the minefield.

Or, more specifically, infravision works like it does in real life. Detects heat sources, thus enemies who possess body heat. Doesn't work for flaming sword, lanterns, etc. They don't have to be invisible e.g. you're going about without a lantern. You can't see anything but you'll be able to see most enemies with infravision. Searching looks around for traps. Rings of searching are good, but don't trust them 100%, they don't always detect traps immediately.

infravision and ESP are both useless with golems though, since they posess no brains, and do not emit body heat (but shouldn't beef/pork and other "food" golems heat up as the meat rots?)

Hmm. Do food golems rot as it is? I don't believe they do. Someone please correct me, because otherwise we have to add something else to the list of things to fix.

I don't think food golems rot. I mean, it's almost a living organism. Of course I've been wrong before. >_>

Right, but golems aren't actually alive. I suppose it could be excused by saying that the magical energies animating the golems also preserve their material, preventing decay.

hmm, this makes me think about why the magical energies that reanimate zombies don't keep them from rotting. also, aren't zombies brainless (or, at least don't emit brainwaves)?

I think the key words here are artificial life and animated. I think that because golems are infused with artificial life (more often than not they're made of inanimate objects), food golems don't rot, whereas zombies are merely animated corpses, so they rot.

Animating a corpse is also likely a hasty process using different energies, whereas the creation of a golem (or preperation of a golem-making scroll) is a lenghty process involving lots of work and such, and using a type of energy that better preserves material. Note that for example, naked, a human flesh golem is probably stronger than a zombie, probably due to the method of animation.

however, skeletons don't seem to rot, though individual bones do. and zombies and skeletons seem to have been reanimated by the same type of magic.

Hmmmmmmm......... *shrug* Flesh rots easier than bones? I dunno.

flesh does rot faster than bones, much faster, and you seem to be able to find bones of people dead hundreds of years ago in dungeons.

Go into a forest - You may find deer horns or bones still tough, too hard for a knife, but if You find remains of a bird, it will stink as hell, even a day after. Did You have a dead mouse around the house? These are proofs. If You still don't believe - OPEN THE COFFIN.

Bird bones are also hollow.