Humanity's newfound ability to manipulate DNA, regenerate tissue and augment our abilities through robotics is putting us on the edge of becoming a new species, according to a leading researcher into the political impacts of life sciences.

Speaking at the TED 2009 conference on technology, entertainment and design in Long Beach, Calif., Juan Enriquez dubbed the next stage in humankind’s evolution homo evolutis.

He told the gathering that while some modifications of the human body in this evolution will be made after birth, our ability to create changes with DNA and biology may allow us to take some of the best aspects of the animal kingdom and make them our own.

Enriquez believes that the dawn of Homo Evolutis will allow people to work much later in life, reducing the strain on government pensions and accommodating the need for more production to supply a rapidly expanding population.

He said that the evolution is not likely to be deliberate and steady, but rather “an even faster accumulation of small, useful improvements that eventually turn homo sapiens into a new hominid."

Some attending the gathering said they felt such a new creature might more accurately be called a "cyborg."

Image: Charlton Comics adaptation of Universal Studios TV series.