Cyborgs, beings with both biological and artificial parts, seem like the stuff of science fiction but in reality they are already among us. With recent advances in bio-technology, cyborgs are becoming more and more common. You might even become one in the next few years.

When you think back to 1998 when Kevin Warwick a professor at the University of Reading in the UK implanted a radio chip in his arm that allowed him to control computers, lights and electronics without touching anything. He was in his own words a cyborg.

But what exactly would it mean to become a cyborg? Nowadays anyone with a pacemaker or a hearing aid could be classified as a cyborg, but beyond using bits of technology to aid us, real cyborgs would use technology to enhance human abilities and to become one with technology.

In the University of New South Wales, John Bloom is developing a bionic eye that can help the blind see again. The bionic eye uses a camera to capture images and send the information back to a small implant behind the eye. First patient tests of the bionic eye are expected to be by 2013.

Cochlear implants can restore hearing in deaf patients. The implants can restore hearing to allow unaided understanding of speech although the restored hearing sounds less rich than natural hearing.

Darpa researchers are already looking into new prosthetic devices that are based on fiber-optics and could be more life-like than other prosthetic limbs in the market. The fiber-optic prosthetic would be loaded with optical cables and attached to the body's nerves. The prosthetic limb would allow the optical fibers to send a specific message through micro-sensors to the nerves which would transmit the message to the brain. This method allows for a more nuanced sensory message to reach the brain. The brain would then send the necessary feedback to arm's motor nerves, which would trigger the specific movements in the micro-sensors. Those movements would then trigger the specific muscle movement in the limb.

The AbioCor Replacement Heart by AbioMed is the first fully implanted artificial heart. Being fully implantable it has no wires or tubes that penetrate the skin and lessens the risk of infection. As of April 2011, there have been 14 patients with AbioCor Replacement Hearts implanted in them.