The embryos weren't used to try to establish a pregnancy, but the researchers behind the technique say it could one day be used to address infertility. In a controversial step that raises the possibility of a new kind of infertility treatment, scientists report that they have produced functional human eggs in the lab that were able to be fertilized with sperm. The proof-of-concept study, published today in the journal Nature Communications, involves using human skin cells to generate eggs, some of which were capable of producing early-stage embryos. None of the embryos were used to try to establish a pregnancy, and it's unlikely that they would have developed much further in the womb. Yet the authors, from Oregon Health and Science University, say the technique could one day be used as an alternative to in vitro fertilization, or IVF.

A smiling face made from living human skin could one day be attached to a humanoid robot, allowing machines to emote and communicate in a more life-like way, say researchers. Its wrinkles could also prove useful for the cosmetics industry. The living tissue is a cultured mix of human skin cells grown in a collagen scaffold and placed on top of a 3D-printed resin base. Unlike previous similar experiments, the skin also contains the equivalent of the ligaments that, in humans and other animals, are buried in the layer of tissue beneath the skin, holding it in place and giving it incredible strength and flexibility. This robot predicts when you're going to smile – and smiles back Michio Kawai at Harvard University and his colleagues call these ligament equivalents "perforation-type anchors" because they were created by perforating the robot's resin base and allowing tiny v-shaped cavities to fill with living tissue.

In sci-fi films like Alien, humanoid robots are so lifelike that it's almost impossible to tell them from a real person. Now, scientists in Japan are on their way to creating real-life versions of these realistic machines. The experts from the University of Tokyo have created a robotic face out of lab-grown human skin. Creepy video shows the bizarre pink creation attempting a cheesy smile. According to the scientists, robots with real skin not only have an'increasingly lifelike appearance' but could heal themselves if damaged. In sci-fi films like Alien, humanoid robots are so realistic that it's almost impossible to tell them from a real human - at least until you see their innards.

Robots can now be covered in living skin grown from real human cells to make them look more like us. As robots increasingly take on roles as nurses, care workers, teachers and other jobs that involve close personal contact, it is important to make them look more human so we feel comfortable interacting with them, says Shoji Takeuchi at the University of Tokyo in Japan. At the moment, robots are sometimes coated in silicone rubber to give them a fleshy appearance, but the rubber lacks the texture of human skin, he says. To make more realistic-looking skin, Takeuchi and his colleagues bathed a plastic robot finger in a soup of collagen and human skin cells called fibroblasts for three days. The collagen and fibroblasts adhered to the finger and formed a layer similar to the dermis, which is the second-from-top layer of human skin. Next, they gently poured other human skin cells called keratinocytes onto the finger to recreate the upper layer of human skin, called the epidermis.