Sounds of Science- 8 Future Musical Instruments

In the future, cars will fly, cloned dinosaurs will live happily confined to zoos, and live concerts will feature musical instruments that use touchscreens, lasers and solar power.

Bad news: We're not quite there yet. Your Chevy is more likely to undergo a biodiesel conversion than a hover mod. And the tech needed to clone and cage dinosaurs still only exists in Michael Crichton's crackpot cranium. Good news: Musical instruments that use touch-sensitive controls, contain lasers and use the power of the friggin' sun are already here. Here's a look at a few of these high-tech instruments that are creating music for our geeky ears.

Above: The Tenori-on looks like a '60s-era Lite-Brite — only it's $600 and one of the most unusual musical instruments in existence. The board is composed of a 256-button LED landscape with a unique instrument programmed into each bulb. To play notes, you plot points on the dot-matrix as if you're drawing a picture. Bonus: The Tenori-on is so dead-simple, even those with no musical talent can master making music in mere minutes.

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