In the second of our small but perfectly realised holiday specials, we squint into the future to distinguish the possible from the impossible in the world of physics. You might be surprised what we saw.

Some 80% of the technologies portrayed in science fiction like Star Trek and Star Wars – including force fields, teleportation, telekinesis, mind-reading and invisibility – will become possible within the next century. At least that's according to futurologist Michio Kaku.

Kaku, far from being an armchair dreamer, is a professor of physics at City University of New York and an expert in string theory. His latest book is Physics of the Impossible in which he maintains that what seems magical today will become commonplace tomorrow.

Within centuries to millennia, even time travel, starships and "warp drive" may become possible, says Kaku.

"What we usually consider are impossible are simply engineering problems ... there's no law of physics preventing them."

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