Wizard Science

And what about transmuting people into animals, or vice versa? Scientists can now create any animal they want - just by inserting DNA. And they can create new animals, as fantastic as those from the realms of sorcery.

In mythology, a chimera was creature with a lion's head, a goat's body and a serpent's tail. Genetic scientists could now make such a monster - if anyone should want one!

Already, scientists at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh have brought to life a genuine chimera, the shoat - half-sheep, half-goat. And Dolly the sheep has been the first in a long line of clones. Magicians have long had the power to create copies of themselves: genetic scientists can now duplicate this mythical feat.

On the small scale, researchers have created flies with eyes on their wings, and flies with feet growing on their heads. We could - if we wanted - do the same with birds and mammals: a pig with wings is certainly possible, even if it was an effort to make it fly!

Invisibility

Having conjured up some scary monster, a magician might look quickly for his Cloak of Invisibility. The theme of disappearing from sight has been the backbone of many a science fiction tale, too, from The Invisible Man onwards. Scientists are now on the track of invisible bodies.

Researchers at California's Ames Research Center have found that the open oceans are not empty of life - they teem with animals unspotted till now because they are transparent. Only a ghostly outline can be seen - and their stomach contents after they've eaten a meal.

The clue to invisibility is the structure of the proteins making up your skin and tissues. The transparent cornea of the eye is made of exactly the same proteins as the white of the eye: it's just evolved to be transparent so we can see. With some serious genetic manipulation, there's a chance that tissues could be made as transparent as those deep-sea denizens.

Parallel Universe

And, talking of disappearing from view, all competent magicians can slip from our world into a parallel Universe that only they can see - like the Platform 9 ¾ in the station of the Harry Potter books. Now scientists believe that there are real parallel Universes, only a fraction of an inch from our Universe. So near, yet so far… we can't see them, because these Universes are in a different dimension. But we can feel them.