Peter Gabriels Monkey Business

Peter Gabriel has signed on for a project that sounds a bit like the James Franco version of Planet of the Apes. According to London's Sunday Times, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer will work with MIT researchers to see if monkeys can use video technology to communicate with each other. Gabriel says, "The idea is to extend a big video network that already exists in labs at [the school] so that different species -- including our own -- have a chance to communicate. He says he's "absolutely certain the monkeys will use the video cameras in Monkey World to communicate with each other." He's also curious whether the apes "would use the Internet to communicate." Needless to say, there's skepticism to this effort. Dr. Bridget Waller from Britain's University of Portsmouth says, "I think we’re already pretty good at communicating with primates when they’re in captivity... Whether videoconferencing will help that, I’m not entirely sure. Primates are complex creatures and they need to be stimulated when we keep them in captivity." This isn't the first time Gabriel has interacted with man's closest relative -- back in 2001, he taught monkeys to play the keyboard.