The Education Resource Fund’s award-winning prenatal medical imagery is now available at Shutterstock.com.

Shutterstock is “the leading global platform for licensing from the most extensive and diverse collection of high-quality 3D models, videos, music, photographs, vectors and illustrations. From the world’s largest content marketplace, to breaking news and A-list entertainment editorial access, to all-in-one content editing platform and studio production service—all using the latest in innovative technology—Shutterstock offers the most comprehensive selection of resources to bring storytelling to life.”

The following prenatal video footage depicts human embryos at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 7 weeks following fertilization. Beyond three weeks following fertilization, no post-implantation video footage used by the Education Resource Fund (ERF) is animated. It is entirely endoscopic (augmented by minimal sonographic scans). ERF uses no imagery created by artificial intelligence (AI). The authenticity of all content on the ERF website and in the ERF app can be verified by reference to the original tapes recorded by the physicians conducting the featured diagnostic and therapeutic scans.

Heartbeat and Brainwaves - America

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2023 Viddy Awards Gold Winner

2023 Viddy Awards
Gold Winner

2023 Accolade Global Film Competition Award of Excellence

2023 Accolade Global Film Competition
Award of Excellence

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2024 Creative Excellence Award
Website Design

2024 AVA Digital Awards - Platinum Winner

2024 AVA Digital Awards
Platinum Winner

2023 Best Mobile App - BMA - award nominee

2023 Best Mobile App Award
Nominee

Hermes Creative Awards - Platinum Award Honoree

2024 Hermes Creative Awards
Platinum Winner

Webby Award Honoree

2024 Webby Award Honoree
Apps and Software

2024 WorldFest Houston Remi Award

2024 WorldFest Houston Remi Award
Gold Winner

American Golden Picture International Film Festival

American Golden Picture International Film Festival
Best Short Documentary,

Best Directing, Best Editing,
Honorable Mention

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Before You Were Born
Children’s Science Documentary
(Spanish Language Edition, ANTES DE QUE NACIERAS)
Best Documentary

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2024 Telly Awards
Silver Winner

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Before You Were Born
Children’s Science Documentary
Best Documentary Short
Best Directing, Best Editing

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YouTube
15.5 Million Views

Physicians (especially OB/GYNs, pediatricians, and family practice doctors), as well as healthcare professionals generally, may wish to download the following video for display on a TV monitor in their waiting rooms, exam rooms, etc. This 44-minute video features rare endoscopic and sonographic embryonic and fetal scans which span the entirety of pregnancy. The film can be programmed for looping on most TVs.

Please see below a comprehensive video archive containing nearly 22 hours of prenatal, endoscopic medical scans. Each scan depicts never-before-seen human embryos and fetuses, alive in the uterus, as they progress through each stage of prenatal development. The image bank will feature a searchable index listing approximately 6,000 of the anatomic structures and/or systems viewable in the video archive. Each search term will be linked to the endoscopic video clip which images its corresponding structure and/or system, chronologically ordered by weeks following fertilization. The program is intended as a reference resource for use by clinicians, academics, researchers, medical and nursing students, as well as students in the health sciences at undergraduate and graduate levels of study. The architecture of this interactive system is designed to accommodate continuous expansion.

Biologically speaking, “human development begins at fertilization,” when a woman and a man each combine 23 of their own chromosomes through the union of their reproductive cells. The DNA in the 46 chromosomes of the resulting embryo (zygote stage), then only one cell in size, already contains some 3 billion base pairs of digital data, the genetic blueprint for the entire human body. ...

The human heart will beat 3 billion times over the course of an average lifespan.

The human circulatory system contains 20-30 trillion blood cells at any given time.

The human brain contains 100 billion neurons.

The neurons in the human brain are linked to one another by 100 trillion synaptic connections.

High-resolution images of embryos and fetuses developing in utero

Follow The Science - Fertilization Through 9 Months

Make Science Fun For Kids

Children's Science Documentaries

Before You Were Born

Before You Were Born – Spanish

Before You Were Born – Chinese (Simplified)

Before You Were Born – Chinese (Traditional)

Before You Were Born – Hindi

Before You Were Born – English (Indian Narrators)

COLORING BOOKS

 

Color using your finger on a phone, or your finger or stylus on a tablet, or your mouse and cursor on a computer, or your crayons on physical pages you print out on paper.

 

 


 

 

Auto-fill zone coloring

 

 

Color with finger or stylus

 

“I hold a multiple subject teaching credential in the state of California and I have been a public elementary school teacher since 2004. My primary focus has been Kindergarten, First and Second grade. I recently examined the ERF coloring pages which depict embryos and fetuses developing in utero. This is an amazing interactive resource for children of all ages. It’s extremely user friendly. The high-resolution prenatal images next to the coloring book line drawings are fantastic! This is an instructive resource that can be used effectively in the classroom setting. I also reviewed the ERF site where I watched the children’s version of the ERF prenatal video. Like the coloring pages, the children’s edition of the ERF prenatal science documentary is also an amazing resource! All content is age-appropriate for even the youngest children.”

Ellarose Pinkus

 

Award Winning Pregnancy Tracker

“By convention, obstetricians date pregnancy from presumed first day of the last normal menstrual period (LMP). This is gestational age, which in embryology is superfluous because gestation does not begin until fertilization of an oocyte occurs. Embryonic [or fetal] age [also described as fertilization or conceptional age] begins at fertilization, approximately 2 weeks after the LNMP…. The day on which fertilization occurs is the most accurate reference point for estimating [embryonic or fetal] age ….” The Developing Human, Clinically Oriented Embryology, Moore, Persaud & Torchia, Elsevier, 10th Ed. (2016). Unless otherwise noted, all embryonic and fetal ages in Education Resource Fund curricular materials are estimated in weeks/months following fertilization.

Science Documentary Films

The Science of Life Before Birth

See Baby Grow

See Baby Grow (Highlights Edition)

The Science of Life Before Birth – Spanish

See Baby Grow – Spanish

See Baby Grow (Highlights Edition) – Spanish

The Intricately Interactive Choreography of Conception

ERF’s See Baby Grow app content has been viewed more than 15.5 million times as of October 1, 2024. More than 1,600 comments have been posted. Viewers are from at least 173 countries.

© See Baby Grow App

To obtain the See Baby Grow App for both Apple (iOS) and Google Play (Android), download from the Apple App Store at the foregoing QR Code, or this link:

QR code for See baby Grow App

For Immediate Release

March 5 2024

The Education Resource Fund (ERF) recently announced an extraordinary new series of pregnancy-related science documentaries which illustrate the biology of prenatal development using sophisticated medical imaging technologies and procedures which enable researchers to visualize embryos and fetuses, alive in the uterus, with never-before-seen clarity. ERF is a science foundation which produces films and other curricular materials that are now available in an app ...

Public Service Announcements

Pregnant? Don’t Smoke!

Pregnant? Don’t Drink!

Pregnant? Don’t Misuse Drugs

Pregnant? Wear Seatbelt!

Embryoscopy, fetoscopy, and high-resolution ultrasound imagery, showing embryonic and fetal development

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Week 1 – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

Week 1 – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

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Week 2 – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

Week 2 – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

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Week 9 – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

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Week 11 – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

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Week 12 – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

Week 12 – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

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4 Months – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

4 Months – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

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5 Months – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

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8 Months – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

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9 Months – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

9 Months – Embryonic & Fetal Video Clips

Subtitles in 88 languages for ERF video "The Science of Life Before Birth"

Choose Your Preferred Subtitle Language Here:

We have prepared the script of “The Science of Life Before Birth” in 88 different languages. You can download a PDF of each of those translations by following the links below.

See Baby Grow app video

 

The See Baby Grow app video depicts embryos and fetuses, alive in the uterus, throughout every stage of pregnancy. These preborn babies have been scanned using embryoscopy and fetoscopy medical imaging technology, as well as high-resolution, research-grade sonography. The narration describes developmental anatomy and physiology as it unfolds through all three trimesters of pregnancy.


PROFESSIONAL ENDORSEMENTS OF THE EDUCATION RESOURCE FUND PRENATAL PROJECT

Professional reviews neither state nor imply institutional endorsement.

Post the following prenatal development facts on your social media:

The ERF prenatal videos featured at www.ERF.science are updated and expanded variants of the science documentary titled "The Biology of Prenatal Development."

Biology of Prenatal Development Film Awards

CINE Golden Eagle

CINE Golden Eagle

Platinum Remi Award

Platinum Remi Award

Grand Remi -

Grand Remi – “Best of Show”

Best of Show | Award of Excellence | Award of Excellence

Grand Remi – “Best of Show”

Grand Remi

Grand Remi

Award of Excellence

Award of Excellence

Silver Telly Award

Silver Telly Award

Principal Technical Advisor:

Mark T. Cullen, M.D.

Technical Review:

James H. Baker, Ph.D.
Enid Gilbert-Barness, M.D.
David H. Bernanke, Ph.D.
Mark J. Holterman, M.D., Ph.D.
David L. Bolender, Ph.D.
Paul A. Krieg, Ph.D.
Professor Stuart Campbell, D.Sc.
Maria Michejda, M.D,
Bruce M. Carlson, M.D., Ph.D.
Maurice J. Pescitelli Jr., Ph.D.
Julian E. De Lia, M.D., M.B.A.
Charles L. Saxe, Ill, Ph.D.
Charles H. Ellis Jr., Ph.D.
Mark F. Seifert, Ph.D.
Ona Marie Faye-Petersen, M.D.
Allan R. Sinning, Ph.D.
David W. Fontaine, M.D.
Bradley R. Smith, Ph.D.
Ravmond F. Gasser, Ph.D.
Sam R. Voora, M.D.

“The developmental period before birth is increasingly understood as a time of preparation during which the developing human acquires the many structures, and practices the many skills, needed for survival after birth. As our understanding of early human development advances, so too will our ability to enhance health––both before and after birth.”

The Biology of Prenatal Development, a documentary film originally distributed by the National Geographic Society


The following science documentaries, medical textbooks, and medical journal articles are among the many educational resources which provide useful information regarding the biology of prenatal development:

Comparative Embryonic and Fetal Anatomy