It won't be war, politics or poverty that eventually wipes out humanity.

According to Seth Shostak, our end will come about as a result of designer babies and artificial intelligence.

The outspoken director of the Search for extraterrestrial intelligence (Seti) Institute believes developments in these areas will lead to new 'alien' species.

'We can eventually produce offspring that are as different from us as dogs are from grey wolves,' he said in an opinion piece for Seti. 

'I'm not talking about the various self-destructive threats of the moment - the ones that fill the papers and spark pontification on the nightly news,' he says.

'No, the three big things that I believe will take place in the 21st century are more profound, and not necessarily bad.'