Art historians have proposed many theories over the years about the historic basis of the Mona Lisa—even suggesting it might be Da Vinci in drag. Archaeologists now hope to get one step closer to tracking down the actual woman, basing their search on the popular theory that she was Lisa Gherardini, a silk merchant's wife. They have opened a tomb in Florence hoping to compare DNA from the skeleton of Gherardini's son with samples taken from three different skeletons in the convent where she died. After that comes the really cool part: once a body is identified, scientists can scan the skull to generate an image of Gherardini's face, which can then be compared to the painting. Modern art?
