10 Sci-Fi Tech That's So Close We Can Barely Contain Ourselves

7. HUDs

For years, our fave heroes of the sci-fi world have merrily gone about their business with information flashing up before their very eyes - whether they're driving a car, working in a lab or simply doing their weekly shop, the inhabitants of sci-fi land can access their data with the flick of an eyeball.

Well, thanks to the boffins at Google, we can all now rest assured that the days of fiddling about with a phone for Twitter notifications like some kind of peasant, could soon be behind us. Handy as this is, head-up displays such as Google Glass can be used for way more than keeping your 14 followers up-to-date with your morning coffee and, yet again, we find ourselves in the world of medicine.

They could allow doctors to record consultations and take pictures of conditions (with the patient's permission, obvs) as well as assist surgeons during procedures. Those whom have trialled these applications has reported that it felt completely intuitive and natural. Who know were were so perfectly adapted to HUDs? Perhaps early man evolved alongside groovy, Google Glass-wearing aliens.

There are, of course, security issues to contend with here. The glasses could easily be used to surreptitiously record people without their knowledge and even capture passwords and PINs. The facial recognition software is also problematic, allow the wearer access to a person's online presence using just their face. So, unless you decide that a full face mask is for you, gone are the days when you could give the weird guy in the smoking area a false name to stop him adding you on Facebook.