They're often regarded as a taboo subject. But a new report is finally lifting the lid on sexual fetishes – and what they might look in the future. Sexual wellness brand, LELO, has worked with futurologist, Tom Cheesewright, to predict the future of love, sex, and relationships. As virtual reality becomes more widespread, Mr Cheesewright suggests that our fetishes will veer away from the more traditional options of nurses and firemen. Instead, Britons will be fantasising about'realistic elves and aliens', he claims.

Over the next decade, homes will become greener and smarter, with wardrobes folding clothes, toilets checking waste, and a space for video calls, a futurologist has claimed. Tom Cheesewright claims that trends were already pointing towards a more remote, flexible and sustainable life, but the pandemic and lockdown are making it happen faster. Research funded by Hive found that 88 per cent of people wanted to live in a more sustainable future but 41 per cent didn't know how to go about making it happen. There is also a push towards smart homes, with smart assistants, video doorbells and smart lights becoming more popular as people spent time indoors over lockdown. Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Mr Cheesewright said: 'The pressure of the pandemic brought that forward,' adding that homes are going to change to reflect these trends over the next decade. These changes will include a rise in'smart technology', including things like smart wardrobes that can iron and fold your clothes, or a medical toilet that can analyse your waste for signs of cancer or other health problems and report back to doctors, according to the futurologist.

The vision of robots taking over the world might sound like something out of a dystopian science fiction novel. But robots will outnumber humans by 2048, an expert has predicted today. According to'leading futurologist' Dr Ian Pearson, earth's robot population will grow from around 57 million to 9.4billion over the next 30 years. Dr Pearson, a British novelist, engineer and inventor, said robots could also become'emotionally intelligent' by 2028. He said his predictions are based on the'modest' assumption that the number of robots will grow by a fifth each year.

Indestructible Terminator-style cyborgs could become a'fourth emergency service' in just fifty years, according to a leading futurologist. The cyborgs will operate in extreme weather conditions that humans and existing machines cannot handle. On-call 24/7, they will have the strength of 500 humans and carry out search and rescue missions to save people who are trapped in dangerous conditions. Instead of replacing the existing emergency services, the machines will work alongside and assist them. Indestructible Terminator-style cyborgs could become a'fourth emergency service' in just fifty years, according to a leading futurologist Mat Shore, a Surrey-based author and futurologist who specialises in AI and the future of technology, made the claims at the launch of his latest book, The Seven Heavenly Habits of Innovation.

Old age could soon be old news, according to a leading futurologist who claims people born after 1970 could live forever. He predicts that by the year 2050, humans could outlive the constraints of the physical body. Genetic engineering could be used to extend the body's life expectancy, by reducing or reversing the ageing of cells. Advances in AI could lead to android bodies for humans to live in after their own flesh and blood frames have ceased to function. And virtual reality worlds could be created for people to upload their consciousness into once their bodies have failed. Old age could soon be old news, according to a leading futurologist who claims people born after 1970 could live forever.

The concept of technological singularity is inevitably linked to the world of science fiction. In fact, the term itself was created by one of the most important mathematicians in modern history, John Von Neuman (recognized as one of the fathers of cybernetics), when it was popularized by the science-fiction writer Vernor Vinge. Singularity is today much more than a likely scenario from novels and movies. The possibility that thanks to artificial intelligence, machines will one day be capable of self-improvement and spawn a generation of computers far superior to human intelligence, is now feasible thanks to the development of exponential technologies. The date when singularity will become our constant companion depends on which expert or futurologist you listen to.

SURFING the web and making free internet phone calls on your Wi-Fi laptop, listening to your iPod on the way home, it often seems that, technologically speaking, we are enjoying a golden age. Human inventiveness is so finely honed, and the globalised technology industries so productive, that there appears to be an invention to cater for every modern whim. But according to a new analysis, this view couldn't be more wrong: far from being in technological nirvana, we are fast approaching a new dark age. That, at least, is the conclusion of Jonathan Huebner, a physicist working at the Pentagon's Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California. He says the rate of technological innovation reached a peak a century ago and has been declining ever since. And like the lookout on the Titanic who spotted the fateful iceberg, Huebner sees the end of innovation looming dead ahead.

Within a decade millions of workers will be at home juggling their careers with caring for children and older relatives, Britain's leading management institute forecast yesterday. Dreams of a future when technological advances would liberate us from the daily drudge and allow more time for leisure appear to be fading, with futurologists predicting less talk about "work-life balance" and more about "work-life integration". A report on the nature of employment in 2018 predicts an exodus from the traditional workplace caused partly by environmental pressure to reduce the carbon footprint of commuting and partly by the demographic pressure of an ageing population, with fewer employees able to avoid looking after older relatives, leading to a blurring of boundaries between family and career. In a list of scenarios drawn up by the Chartered Management Institute and launched at a seminar in London yesterday by Sir John Sunderland, chairman of Cadbury Schweppes, companies were warned to prepare for a range of more remote possibilities, including a world under cyber attack, the use of holograms for communication between staff, and controlling employee behaviour by implanting microchips in their brains. More probable scenarios included a polarisation of businesses, with large corporations consolidating global control and becoming more powerful than the governments of some big countries.