Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is one enigmatic masterpiece due to the mystery surrounding the real identity of the model. Speculations have been high, with some even pointing that it is actually a self-portrait of da Vinci himself.

But the answer to that mystery has already been found, quietly gazing at us from centuries-old books in the main library of Heidelberg University.

The full details after the jump!

What used to be a fine art confined to mind reading stalls in carnivals, such practices may soon move to more practical uses in society with much more credibility.

German scientists have conducted a study using fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) devices to help determine specific brain patterns and eventually read a person's thoughts and intentions from them. Check out the full article for more details!

Scientists in Germany have finally figured out a way to read people's minds.

PhysOrg.com reports that a team from Berlin's Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience is definitely breaking new psychic ground with their research. The team, led by Dr. John-Dylan Haynes, used MRI machines to track and identify brain activity in order to predict whether their subjects would add or subtract two given numbers.

Before you go all bonkers and start hoarding tinfoil to make into "protective hats," please note that this is only possible through the use of an MRI machine, and it's not very accurate. In fact, the 71 percent accuracy rate is only about 20 percent more successful than random selection.

"It's really weird," said Tanja Steinbach, a 21-year-old Leipzig student who participated in the experiment. "But since I know they're only able to do this if they have certain machines, I'm not worried that everybody else on the street can read my mind."

Still, the research has managed to stir up some interest in the scientific community. "Haynes' experiment strikes at the heart of how good we will get at predicting behaviors," said Dr. Todd Braver, an associate professor in the department of psychology at Washington University. "The barriers that we assumed existed in reading our minds keep getting breached."

Haynes, meanwhile, envisions more benign uses (i.e., not in any way similar to "Minority Report") for the research. For example, he says it could contribute to the development of machines already in existence that respond to brain signals and allow the paralyzed to change TV channels, surf the Internet, and operate small robotic devices.