See your future in the new issue!

If there's one thing that gets me in a sulk, it's a sore throat. You just know that this is the start of something pretty grotty. Soon your eyes will be burning and you'll be producing ectoplasm from your nose. The one thing you don't know is how grotty it's going to get – whether it's going to be a mild cold you can brush off like a 'proper little soldier' or whether you're going to be confined to bed for days. But in the not too distant future, you'll be able to pick up a self-test kit from a pharmacy to find out what your body has in store for you. Just stick a swab up your nostril and the disposable tester will tell you whether you have something mild, or the full blown flu.
'Lab on a chip' technology like this is one of the predictions of the feature 2020 Vision that appears in our January edition – out now. We have gazed into your future to see what your life will be like in 10 years' time. The bad news is that our future doesn't involve floating cars. Sorry. But some pretty exciting tech is just around the corner. Pears that ripen exactly when you want to eat them. Cameras built into your glasses that record your every move. It's all going to happen. Trust us.
Also in our January issue, we look at how your name may have determined the job you do and whether the planets in our Solar System could stray from their orbits and smash into each other. Ouch. Plus there's the Amazon Kindle, shape-shifting robots and you can discover which is the oldest part of your body.