Neuromancer Krischan Schallenberger of Germany must be tired of those unwieldy appendages he was born with — some call them fingers — because he's created a mind-to-sound hood that, when coupled with a synthesizer, allows him to crank out flighty tunes just by thinking happy thoughts. Or angry thoughts, or mellow thoughts, or thoughts about how cool all of those wires and hookups look. Schallenberger is still working to iron out a few kinks that go along with mind control, such as rapid fatigue and visual distortions if the hood is used too long. He refuses to test the hood on animals and has shouldered the burden entirely himself, which is, given the uncertain nature of the technology, highly admirable.

All right, all right — stop dialing little Suzy's piano instructor to cancel. Schallenberger's hood is in fact a fake. The synthesizer in the back, however, is a real e-mu synthesizer from the '70s, like the kind Frank Zappa used.

Flickr, via Technabob