A Subway Train Ceiling Straight Out of 'Harry Potter'

Riding the metro underground can be boring as dirt. Pretend all you want that you're tiny and zipping around a giant human's circulatory system, a la Fantastic Voyage – eventually the blah concrete surroundings, lights whizzing past in a sleep or nausea-inducing monotony, and hermetic A/C hum forces many riders to reach for a book or iPod.

But a band of London designers at the Royal College of Art believes that traveling under the earth can be a lively jaunt, with a little technological help. They've birthed a concept called "Canopy" that would turn the ceilings of train cars into real-time reflections of what's passing by overhead: towering buildings, frizzy trees and all. There would even be clouds and rain to show the current weather conditions. And a few advertisements, of course, to help fund the unusual project.