What will life be like in the year 2020? It’s sounds a long way off but it’s not, so it should be fairly easy to make a series of educated guesses. One of the largest discernable differences could be climate. Over the past 100 years atmospheric temperatures have risen by 0.6 degrees centigrade globally. Over the next 8-12 years they can be expected to rise by a similar amount. So by 2020 it might be possible to sail right across the North Pole. Water from melting ice caps will disperse so many of the planet’s lowest-lying areas will disappear under water. So if you want to see polar bears – or visit the Great Barrier reef which will be severely damaged by rising sea temperatures – do it sooner rather than later.

On the medical front things are looking much healthier. Death rates from common cancers will have fallen, possibly by as much as 25%, and drug combinations and genetically-based treatments will treat specific tumours. Home-based robots will be commonplace, although it is doubtful whether they will become ‘pets’ as some experts are predicting. Moreover, developments in nanotechnology will displace robots in many areas. The idea of having robotic butlers to help clean up the kitchen won’t come to fruition because many of the jobs will be done by nanoparticles instead. Surfaces like kitchen bench-tops, for example, will be self-cleaning. We will also see computerised clothing enter mainstream usage with our clothes warning us if there is a biohazard nearby or perhaps telephone the nearest doctor if you fall ill or injure yourself.

Then there’s energy. It’s unlikely that many of us will be driving around in fuel-cell powered cars by 2020 and hydrogen power will still be a way off but it does look pretty certain that we will rely on more diverse sources of power. These will include solar (far more important), wind, water and tidal power generation and we’ll also see a major switch to nuclear power (possibly thorium-based power stations using spent nuclear waste). Finally there’s some bad news. Historically there have been five mass extinction periods in the earth’s history and we are about to enter a sixth. Climate change, together with urbanisation and intensive agriculture will continue to destroy a great number of species. How many? No one is saying exactly but it’s likely to at least a thousand times the natural rate.