7 amazing 'superpowers' that humans can develop to deal with extreme conditions

Compared to most other animals, the average human seems fairly weak. We live in climate-controlled bubbles and eat food that we purchase in stores. Most of us would have a hard time surviving in the wild for even a week.

And yet, Homo sapiens were able to conquer the globe, spreading to the far corners of the planet before the existence of modern technology. Our ancestors traveled the world, traversing deserts like the Sahara and freezing regions like Siberia, scaling mountain ranges like the Alps and Himalayas, and even crossing segments of the ocean to populate new lands.

But the ability to accomplish all that wasn't due to superpowers that were genetically lost, as Scott Carney, the author of "What Doesn't Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude, and Environmental Conditioning Will Renew Our Lost Evolutionary Strength," recently explained in a TEDx Talk at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Inside all of us, we have remarkable abilities to resist extreme weather and to endure extreme physical stress. These superpowers are really what Carney calls "human powers," and they can be developed and learned.

Here are seven of the "superpowers" that can be found in individuals or that can be developed.