Prepare yourselves. Soon you’ll be able to hold your breath and swim underwater for hours. You’ll be able to run full-pelt over huge distances. You will be superhuman. “But how?” you cry. Thanks to tiny robots working inside your body, of course.

- Nanotechnology will change our lives. The respirocyte is just one example. It is basically an artificial red blood cell that can be injected straight into the bloodstream. It is filled with oxygen and carbon dioxide and replicates what haemoglobin in our red blood cells does, but with about 200 times the efficiency. As a result we’ll have incredible physical endurance, making us part man, part Duracell bunny.

- One downside, though: it’s not ready yet, and probably won’t be for a couple of decades. Still, people are preparing for the day we’re all cyborgs. There has been increased interest in the writings of “transhumanist” thinkers, who discuss the ethics, benefits and dangers of enhancing human capacity. Hours of watching creations going homicidal in Battlestar Galactica and Terminator have taught us something, then.

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