Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist: Zhang Zhihe

Oh, yeah, baby, gimme some of that sweet, sweet video action. No, really -- apparently, the reason for the incredible panda baby boom of the last two years is, um, porn:

"It works," Zhang Zhihe, a leading Chinese expert, said about showing uninitiated males DVDs of fellow pandas mating. It is one of many techniques tried over the decades to get captive pandas -- notoriously poor breeders -- to do it, and do it right. The efforts to understand and simulate conditions for mating have paid off in China, the panda's native habitat. The audio-visual approach "is the same idea as chimpanzees seeing people smoke and then copying it," says Prasertsak Buntragulpoontawee, a Thai researcher.

I think the Bloodhound Gang would approve of this development.