Now it can be told! Mona Lisa couldn't help her beguiling smile because she had just given birth to her second son when she sat for the painting, says a French art expert.

The conclusion was made based on Mona Lisa's dress which was covered in a thin, transparent gauze veil. "This type of gauze dress... was typical of the kind worn in early 16th century Italy by women who were pregnant or who had just given birth. This is something that had never been seen up to now because the painting was always judged to be dark and difficult to examine," said Bruno Mottin from French Museums' Centre for Research and Restoration.

Computer scientists from Canada's National Research Council (NRC) used special 3D technology to scan the painting on both sides to get a high resolution 3D image data that uncovered its secret. Based on this image, the centre also said that Leonardo daVinci made the painting to commemorate the birth of the second son of the lady Mona Lisa, around 1503.

She must have really been high on baby love to be able smile like that centuries before epidural was invented!
 

Some 60 years ago, hundreds of dinosaur bones belonging to Coelophysis were discovered in a site north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Some fossils showed what appeared to be baby Coelophysis inside the grown-up Coelophysis, so paleontologists declared the species cannibals.

But the dino species may yet redeem its reputation as new fossil study suggests they didn't snack on their own young. "Our research shows that the evidence for cannibalism in Coelophysis is nonexistent," according to a team at Columbia University in New York City.

A new fossil suggests what's inside the Coelophysis could, in fact be, crocodiles or some related species. In another discredited evidence, the baby inside the adult was simply too big to fit in. Paleo-CSI agents now think the two bones had mingled during the event that caused the mass extinction. This gave the impression that adult Coelophysis practiced cannibalism.

Did they or did they not eat their own young? If the Coelophysis were on trial today, the case would be thrown out for lack of solid evidence.

Coelophysis bauri was a lightly built dinosaur less than a meter (about three feet) tall at the hips. The name means "hollow form" because of its hollow limb bones. Although about the size of turkeys, the Coelophysis belonged in the same group as the T. Rex.

Why are some fish smarter than others? Because they hang out in schools!

Actually, fish form schools (or shoals for groups made up of similar-looking but various species) as a defensive move against predators. Swimming in a synchronized manner, scientists believe, enhances predator detection and reduces the chance of capture. It also helps the members to find food. Schooling is also the undersea counterpart of a singles bar. When fish forms schools, they have a higher chance of not striking out and finding a mate. Some researchers also say fish swim better in schools or shoals because of better fluid dynamics.

Usually, schools are made up of fish of the same shape and colors. Obviously, being an "individual" in a swarm of "conventionals" makes it an easier target for hungry predators. A school of fish can have just a small number of members or - as can be seen from this awesome photo - it can have more than a zillion!

We won't take you for a ride down Hypocrisy Avenue by saying we don't eat meat and poultry products. This is a company of carnivores and no one here thinks tofurky even looks like the real thing. But there's a big difference between enjoying a turkey sandwich and subjecting the birds to brutal cruelty that would put a wicked smile on Jeffrey Dahmer's face.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) uncovered a shocking secret at a Butterball turkey plant in Ozark, Arkansas.

Between April and July 2006, PETA undercover investigators reported live birds whose legs were shoved into the metal shackles, from which they hang upside-down on their way to being slaughtered.

PETA's investigators also witnessed how live birds were "slammed against transport trucks and walls, punched and kicked, hung by broken legs, used as a punching bag, and even sexually assaulted—all either for "fun" or out of frustration. One worker crushed a live turkey's head under his shoe until her skull exploded, and another swung a bird so hard against a handrail that he exposed her spine. "

One way to help the turkeys (and other livestock) is to go vegetarian and stop consuming meat altogether. But if that is out of the question, and we don't fault you for that, you can sign PETA's petition to include the birds under the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA). turkeys may not have the nobility of horses, they are not endangered like the Giant Panda, but there is no excuse for cruelty. Click on the "Via" link below to sign the petition.

In many cultures, eating wild animals is part of their tradition. These traditions deserved to be respected but when endangered animals are involved, we think these age-old practices should be strictly regulated or even stopped to allow animal populations to recover.

Shark fin soup is a good example of an environmentally-destructive dish. That's just the appetizer.

In southern China, the joke goes, the Cantonese will eat anything with four legs except a table. Some Chinese restaurants in Jiangmen offer alligators, slugs, and sea turtle (about US$ 21 per kilogram). They also eat palm civet, which proved disastrous when the animals passed the SARS virus to humans.

But you don't have to go to China to find endangered cuisine. Some nutcase proposed to establish a group called ELEAWTA (Eating Lethal and Endangered Animals While They're Alive). We're not sure if he was serious or what but there are supposedly super-secret clubs out there that get together just to dine on endangered species. Talk about bad taste!

Most endangered animals are eaten not for their flavor but for prestige and because of some supposed health benefits such as improving the sex drive. Most of these so-called health benefits are unfounded. The eyes, whiskers, bones, eyes, and other parts of the tiger are used in traditional Chinese medicine to cure treat insomnia, malaria, meningitis, rheumatism, ulcer, typhoid, and other ailments. The demand fuels illegal trade and poaching.

The list of endangered animals that you probably didn't know end up on someone's dinner plate after the jump.

Every year, The Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley rescues wild animals from people who keep them as pets, often in very poor and cruel living conditions. Among the animals that got lucky include a starving great horned owl with clipped wings, an American crow on a diet of Arby's roast beef sandwiches and crackers, an albino crow with broken wings, and a red-tailed hawk kept in a tiny cage.

Animals that have been confiscated by the agency are rehabilitated and released in the wild when they are ready. Those who can't be released because of injuries or tameness are often used to help educate people why wild pets should not be kept as pets. The reasons include:

• Confinement is stressful for the animals and can lead to weakened immune systems and death.
• Wild animals kept as pets may engage in self-mutilation out of boredom.
• Wild animals 'imprint'' on humans as their role models and lose their ability to survive on their own.
  
• Captive wild animals require specialized diets.
• Wild animals can be very destructive to furniture and may attack people.
• Wild animals can transmit a variety of diseases to humans, including rabies and roundworms.
• It is against the law.
  

Wildlife officials say there are many more animals that perish or remain captive in cramped cages in people's homes and are never rescued.

The Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley provides quality care and rehabilitation of injured, sick, and orphaned wild animals. The center also conducts education programs fostering a positive coexistence between the general public and wildlife. Approximately 150 volunteers care for nearly 5,000 birds and mammals from over one hundred species each year.

The Australian Consumers' Association (ACA) wants the government to put an end to the multi-million dollar organic food ripoff. "There is no government regulation about what defines organic food," said ACA. "Consumers, in most cases, aren't getting what they pay for."

The group claims consumers often pay as much as three times for organic food yet there are no national standards organic food producers must meet.

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, a self-regulatory system, controls the country's Organic food labelling but there are variations on what is accepted as organic. Some "organic" products on the market aren't associated with any certifying body at all.

The Organic Federation of Australia disputed ACA's claim that consumers were being misled saying Australia's organic food is reputable while fraud is negligible.

The organic food industry is worth an estimated $450 million a year in Australia.

Proper organic labeling is an issue that is plaguing the organic food industry all over the world but steps are being taken by various governments, including the EU, to ensure the quality of these products.

Krill ("young fry of fish" in Norwegian) are shrimp-like animals found in all oceans of the world. Krill is famous as the tiny creatures that keep the biggest marine animals alive: baleen whales, whale sharks and mantas. The Krill's impressive resumes also include providing food for some seals and seabirds. Researchers from the University of Victoria in Canada discovered there's more to Krill than being dinner for blue whales.

There are so many of the tiny swimmers, billions of them, they actually churn the seas as they commute from their deep water habitat to feed near the surface every night. The vertical migration generates biologically generated turbulence or disturbance that transport inorganic nutrients from the ocean bottom to the often nutrient-depleted surface layer.

Their collective swimming also contribute to the mixing of atmospheric gases, including the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, and the ocean's water. The researchers think this plays an important role slowing down global warming by trapping the carbon dioxide emitted annually underwater.

Isn't amazing that creatures at the food chain's rock bottom is doing more for the planet than the intelligent beings sitting at the very top? ExxonMobil executives should all be reincarnated as Krill.

Paul Kenis, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), developed a new ceramic microreactor prototype that converts fuels, such as methanol or propane, into hydrogen for fuel cells. 

Although microreactors are nothing new, Kenis and his team claim their microreactors are much better than other fuel reformer systems. They are now trying to use the device to convert gasoline and diesel into hydrogen.

The microreactor converts propane at temperatures up to 1,000C. The device also decomposes ammonia at temperatures up to 1,000C. High-temperature operation is essential for peak performance in microreactors.

According to Kenis, the microreactors can be used for powering small appliances, laptop computers, and charging battery packs.

Despite critics' pronouncements that hydrogen fuel and vehicles won't mix, BMW is going for an advanced hydrogen-gas internal combustion hybrid car anyways.

BMW's next-gen hydrogen/gasoline prototype is based on their 7 series sedans and will feature a super-insulated tank that stores liquid hydrogen at 480F below zero. It also has a special fuel-injection system that allows the engine to switch between gasoline and hydrogen.

The engine can deliver 260-horsepower on hydrogen - something only electric cars powered by a hydrogen fuel cell can dream about. The new car's high performance is complemented by its low emissions. While hydrogen combustion produces nitrogen oxides, BMW's new car has sophisticated control systems that minimize or even eliminate the formation of nitrogen oxides in the first place.

But don't hold your breath for these new green BMWs. It's not that they are uber expensive, it's just that BMW will make only 100 of these cars, which would all then be given away. That's right, all 100 cars will be given away to a privileged group consisting of yet-unnamed celebrities and politicians. We like Oprah's way better.