This week’s show was recorded at the Mann Center in Philly with host Peter Sagal, judge and scorekeeper Bill Kurtis, Not My Job guest Christian McBride and panelists Dulcé Sloan, Joyelle Nicole Johnson, and Peter Grosz. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show.

Who’s Bill This Time

Presidential Hoarse Race; A Change for The Change; A New Way to Be Bored on Board

Panel Questions

Stuck In Space

Bluff The Listener

Our panelists tell three stories of unique lawsuits, only one of which is true.

Not My Job: We quiz Jazz bass legend Christian McBride on Bass Pro Shops

Jazz bassist Christian McBride plays our game called “Bass Pro? Meet Bass Pro!” Three questions about Bass Pro Shops.

Panel Questions

Running for Love; The Greater Outdoors

Limericks

Bill Kurtis reads three news-related limericks: Taylor Swift Side Effects; Furry Caddies; An Adorably Repugnant Pup

Lightning Fill In The Blank

All the news we couldn’t fit anywhere else

Predictions

Our panelists predict, after rawdogging flights, what will be the next weird thing people will do on planes.

If humanoid robots make you a bit queasy — would it help if they had fleshy faces that can smile at you?

The uncanny feat is the result of new technology using engineered living skin tissue and human-like ligaments to give robots a more natural smile, according to Tokyo University researchers who unveiled their work this week.

“In this study, we managed to replicate human appearance to some extent by creating a face with the same surface material and structure as humans,” professor Shoji Takeuchi, the team leader, said in a news release. In the process, he added, “we identified new challenges, such as the necessity for surface wrinkles and a thicker epidermis to achieve a more humanlike appearance.”

The approach promises to make robots more lifelike — and in the future, the researchers say, similar techniques could also be used on humans, in the cosmetics and plastic surgery industries. Their findings were published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science.

A new method of binding living skin tissue to a robotic skeleton will allow more humanlike expressions and better range of motion, according to researchers from the University of Tokyo.

Takeuchi et al. CC-BY-ND

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Takeuchi et al. CC-BY-ND

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To overlay and connect the lab-produced skin on a robotic skeleton, a layer of collagen gel containing cultured human dermal fibroblasts (a type of connective tissue cell) binds to an innovative system of tiny V-shaped perforations in the surface, letting the skin move with the underlying structure without tearing or peeling. The work of muscles — creating a smile, and other motions — is done by actuators.

Takeuchi’s Biohybrid Systems Laboratory has previously engineered skin that can heal, created small robots with biological muscle tissue, and 3D printed lab-grown meat. He says the latest work on living skin has a string of potential next steps.

“Self-healing is a big deal — some chemical-based materials can be made to heal themselves, but they require triggers such as heat, pressure or other signals, and they also do not proliferate like cells,” he said. “Biological skin repairs minor lacerations as ours does, and nerves and other skin organs can be added for use in sensing and so on.”

It’s critical for robots to have the ability to heal and self-repair, the researchers said in their study, because even small scratches could develop into serious impairments.

Biomimetic robots could also become even more realistic with thicker skin, Takeuchi said, adding that future projects could look to add sensors, pores and even sweat glands and fat. The team’s paper says their work could also bring insights into how humans’ wrinkles are formed. And by incorporating more sophisticated actuators and eventually, cultured muscle tissue, their approach could help robots in the future move in fluid, humanlike ways.

For now, the robot can’t feel its face, putting it in a category pioneered by Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd. Not long ago, many of us smiled when technology managed to put the singer’s words about his face into the mouth of a U.S. president.