So, you know those scientific studies that recruit participants through ads on the subway and on college bulletin boards? This one’s sooooo much cooler:

SYDNEY (AFP)—An Australian zoo is putting humans on public display in its orangutang enclosure in a month-long scientific experiment that will also include a popularity contest.

Six humans have already taken up residence in the Adelaide Zoo pen for the experiment, dubbed “the human zoo.”

Groups of humans will spend week-long shifts locked in the enclosure during the zoo’s opening hours, with the public able to observe them through large perspex windows and live webcams.
Visitors are invited to vote for their favourite caged human, who will also be studied by animal behaviourists trying to work out ways of improving living conditions for captive great apes such as chimpanzees.

The project’s website is here if you’re interested in volunteering watching… although, hmm, one thought: Given the historical use of the term, should they really have called it the “human zoo?”