This Week in the Future, February 7-11, 2011

Ah, another week of great science and tech posts. This week, we’ve got a particularly robot-heavy TWitF t-shirt prize for one lucky reader. All you’ve got to do is tell us which of the stories featured in this week’s t-shirt design is your favorite and why, via either Facebook or Twitter.

The rules: Pick your favorite of the five stories featured in this week’s Baarbarian masterwork, and tell us why you picked it. You can do that via Twitter (follow us, and use the hashtag #TWitF so we can find you) or comment on the TWitF post on our Facebook page (and, of course, you can just buy the t-shirt here, if you’re into that whole exchanging-currency-for-goods-and/or-services thing, rather than social media contests). The stories are:

• Japanese Robots Will Run In First-Ever Full-Length Robot Marathon
• Future Robots Could Use Manhole Covers To Navigate Through Cities
• Video: Anybots Robot Orders Scone at Palo Alto Coffeeshop
• The Catholic Church Gives Blessing to Confession iPhone App
• This Robot Can Hear Your Frightened Breathing, Even Through Walls

And here are some of our other favorite stories from this week:

• Robot of the Week: ‘Affetto,’ A Disembodied Japanese Baby Head, Takes Uncanny Valley to New Depths
• Archive Gallery: PopSci Fights the Battle of the Sexes
• NASA and DARPA Want a “100-Year Starship,” As Long as They Don’t Have to Build It
• The Goods: February 2011’s Hottest Gadgets
• HP/Palm Brings WebOS Back to Life, Announces TouchPad Tablet, Veer and Pre 3 Smartphones
• Rogue ‘Steppenwolf Planets’ That Have Escaped From Their Suns Could Harbor Alien Life, Astrophysicists Say
• Video: Scientists Smash Giant Granite Balls Together to Simulate Asteroid Collisions
• FYI: What Does Space Smell Like?

And two more from our “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” package:

• Immortal Micro-Organisms
• Flying Hummers