Will a chip every day keep the doctor away

"We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first Bionic man." So began each episode of 1970s TV show Six Million Dollar Man, as surgeons attempted to rebuild aeroplane crash victim Steve Austin by fitting him with bionic limbs and eagle-eye vision. As the popularity of the show proved, the concept of integrating man and machine has long fuelled our imagination. It has also been the subject of many other science-fiction movies and shows, including Bionic Woman, Robocop and Inspector Gadget.