Video: A radar device can be used to track movement through walls

Cast your mind back 30 years, if you are old enough, and you may just remember a rather humdrum, though retrospectively momentous, event. In 1979, the Japanese firm NET launched the first cellular phone network in Tokyo.

For decades the objects remained toys of the super-rich. Who would have thought that today there would be enough cellphones for half the world’s population to have one.

That’s not the only recent technological revolution. Would you have dreamed that an entire record collection could one day fit in your pocket? How about a system that helps you communicate and share information across the world instantly?

Crystal-ball gazing is a fraught endeavour, but we’ve decided to take the plunge. In this special feature, we assess the prospects of 10 of the coolest gadgets that in 30 years’ time may change our lives as much – or maybe more – than cellphones, iPods and the internet.

See a gallery showing the progress made towards the ten ideas

1 Super-vision

Who could ever pass up the chance to try on a pair of real X-ray specs? You may not always like what comes into view, but endowed with Superman-like vision, you would be able to see through solid walls, peer in at your neighbours or keep a watchful eye on your kids upstairs. Unfortunately, they still don’t exist, despite what those ads at the back of children’s comics suggest. Yet there are some technological tricks that can give you the next best thing.

Unlike visible light, radio waves can pass through solid materials. In 2006, …