Rees, Royal Society professor of astronomy at Cambridge University, will say that it is now possible to conceive of computers so powerful that they could build an entire virtual universe.
Computers could be about to evolve from desktop beasts into something rather brighter. IBM has announced plans to start building the first "self-conscious" computer system - a network of super-computers so sophisticated that it could amount to a new form of life.
MARS could soon be buzzing with its own internet. Nasa, the American space agency, wants to girdle the silent red planet with powerful satellites to help astronauts communicate with each other and with Earth. Starting next year the agency aims to launch a series of spacecraft that will form the building blocks of the new system. If Nasa succeeds in establishing a network of manned bases on Mars - perhaps as early as 2014 - the inhabitants should be able to send and receive e-mails.
Scientists claim they have broken the ultimate speed barrier: the speed of light. In research carried out in the United States, particle physicists have shown that light pulses can be accelerated to up to 300 times their normal velocity of 186,000 miles per second.
Lord Sainsbury, the British science minister, plans to build an Armageddon institute in Britain to track and destroy comets threatening the Earth.