Endoscopic video of human embryos 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 7 weeks following fertilization. The footage in this section contains no animation. It is actual prenatal medical imagery.

Viddy

2023 Viddy Awards
Gold Winner

Accolade Global Film Competition

2023 Accolade Global Film Competition
Award of Excellence
Documentary Program Series

Accolade Global Film Competition

2023 Accolade Global Film Competition
Award of Excellence
Educational/Instructional/Training

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2024 Creative Excellence Award
Website Design

AVA

Awarded to ERF for our See Baby Grow Pregnancy Tracker

Honoring Excellence In Digital Creativity, Branding + Strategy

“AVA” stands for "audio-visual arts." The awards are presented through the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. The AMCP began in 1995 as a means to honor outstanding achievement and service in the communications profession.

An Education Resource Fund documentary titled The Science of Life Before Birth has been named a 2023 Viddy Gold film award winner. The Viddy Awards recognize “Outstanding achievement in video and digital skills.” The Viddy Awards competition is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) organization. This international group consists…

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Please see below, the preliminary prototype of 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 6000 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.

Follow the Science - Fertilization through 12 weeks

This image is available in 49 languages. Post on social media.

“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.

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Science Documentary Films

The Science of life before birth

The Science of Life Before Birth

Full-length documentary
49 minutes
ENGLISH
See Baby Grow

See Baby Grow

Medium-length edition
28 minutes
ENGLISH
See Baby Grow

See Baby Grow (Highlights Edition)

Highlights edition
9 minutes
ENGLISH

The Science of Life Before Birth – Spanish

Full-length documentary
49 minutes
SPANISH
SPANISH_VEA-AL-BEBE_GREEN POSTER

See Baby Grow – Spanish

Medium-length edition
28 minutes
SPANISH

See Baby Grow (Highlights Edition) – Spanish

Highlights edition
9 minutes
SPANISH

AWARD-WINNING PREGNANCY TRACKER

The Intricately Interactive Choreography of Conception

1. Male initiated:
Up to 600 million sperm are deposited in the birth canal, of which only 200 reach the fertilization site in the uterine tube.  The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 10th ed., K. Moore et al., Elsevier (2016), pp. 25-26.

2. Male initiated: An enzyme produced by...

ERF’s See Baby Grow app content has been viewed more than 13.5 million times as of March 22, 2024. More than 1,400 comments have been posted. Viewers are from at least 173 countries.

© See Baby Grow App

To obtain the See Baby Grow App for Apple (iOS), download from the Apple App Store at the foregoing QR Code, or this link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/see-baby-grow/id1633494975.

To obtain the See Baby Grow App for Google Play (Android), download from Google Play App Store at the foregoing QR Code, or this link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.seebabygrow.erf.

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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…

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Public Service Announcements

Make Science Fun for Kids

CARTOON-KIDDOS

Children’s Science Documentary Films

Before You Were Born - Spanish

Before You Were Born – Spanish

35 minutes
SPANISH
Simplified Chinese Poster for Before You were Bord Video

Before You Were Born – Chinese (Simplified)

34 minutes
MANDARIN CHINESE (SIMPLIFIED)

Before You Were Born – Chinese (Traditional)

34 minutes
MANDARIN CHINESE (TRADITIONAL)
ORANGE HINDI BEFORE YOU WERE BORN POSTER

Before You Were Born – Hindi

32 minutes
HINDI
English BEFORE YOU WERE BORN POSTER

Before You Were Born – English (Indian Narrators)

29 minutes
ENGLISH (INDIAN NARRATORS)
Before You Were Born Royal Blue Poster

Before You Were Born

30 minutes
ENGLISH

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

Puzzles

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WORD SEARCHES

Curricular Content

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

Pregnancy Week 1

Pregnancy Week 2

Pregnancy Week 3

Pregnancy Week 4

Pregnancy Week 5

Pregnancy Week 6

Pregnancy Week 7

Pregnancy Week 8

Pregnancy Week 9

Pregnancy Week 10

Pregnancy Week 11

Pregnancy Week 12

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Pregnancy Month 4

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Pregnancy Month 5

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Pregnancy Month 6

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Pregnancy Month 7

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Pregnancy Month 8

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Pregnancy Month 9

Subtitles in 92 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 92 different languages. You can download a PDF of each of those translations by following the links below.

High-resolution images of embryos and fetuses developing in utero

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.


If you are a medical practitioner or science educator/researcher, or a student, please consider offering an endorsement for this project.

PROFESSIONAL ENDORSEMENTS

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

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.

ENDORSEMENTS OF THE BIOLOGY OF PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT

“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:

Recommended Science Documentaries

Recommended Medical Textbooks

Medical Journal Articles

Comparative Embryonic and Fetal Anatomy

View 3D Organ Structures

See 12 of your baby's vital organs depicted in embryonic, fetal, and adult age stages and illustrated as 3D models which you can rotate about their vertical, horizontal, etc. axes

Search 3D Organ Index

THE INTRICATE ORIGINS OF PRENATAL & GLOBAL IMAGERY, FROM ENDOSCOPES TO TELESCOPES

ERF’s embryo and fetus pictures are derived from many smaller images “stitched” together in much the same manner NASA uses to combine satellite photo “tiles” to form a large “mosaic.”

ENDOSCOPES

The Education Resource Fund’s (www.ERF.Science) human embryo and fetus imagery was initially derived by teams of physician researchers and clinicians employing endoscopy (and its subsets, embryoscopy and fetoscopy) to diagnose and treat prenatal disorders in utero. Endoscopes are medical imaging devices which permit the minimally invasive, high resolution observation of tissues inside the human body. At the distal end of these instruments is an objective lens designed for imaging. At the proximal end is an eyepiece, or sensor, which enables viewing.

HOW THEY WORK

These scopes generally consist of a tube which encloses a relay lens system (in rigid endoscopes) or a fiber bundle (for fiber-optic, or flexible, endoscopes) for illumination and to transmit an image from the objective lens inside the body to the proximal end outside.

Said differently, endoscopes use optical elements to direct light to the area sought to be illuminated and transmit the resulting image to the eye or detector. Rigid endoscopes generally offer superior resolution or magnification. But an endoscope’s objective lens is only approximately 1/5 of an inch in diameter, and this relatively small size substantially narrows the observer’s field of view (even with the addition of supplemental lenses such as “negative” or “prism” optics, etc.).

CONSTRAINTS

This limitation is further compounded by the need to use the scope in very confined spaces, with only short distances separating the objective lens from the anatomical structures being imaged. As a consequence, only a small segment of the embryo or fetus is observable at any point along the timeline of the scan. An endoscope’s construction must also accommodate frequently conflicting design considerations. The resulting compromises can involve not only fields of view, but depths of field (meaning thickness of the plane of focus) and image illumination and magnification, as well as distortion issues (i.e., stretched or compressed perspective), etc.

WORK-AROUNDS

So to depict a high quality, single image of the entire embryo or fetus, large numbers of smaller, more detailed pictures must be joined together in a manner suggestive of the process by which puzzle pieces are assembled to form a completed picture.

This technique employs a complex proprietary process which combines segmental scans to create a final composite image. The resulting picture is digitally adjusted to preserve each segment’s original color, resolution, contrast, illumination, etc. Technicians also correct for vignetting (image degradation or loss at the periphery of the frame).

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING & ULTRASOUND

The British medical journal Lancet has published a prenatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study involving the creation of 3D pictures to diagnose and treat congenital heart problems afflicting fetuses still in the uterus. The BBC reports that “A series of 2D pictures of the heart are taken from different angles using an MRI machine” to image the fetus.

The story explains that “Sophisticated computer software pieces the images together, adjusts for the beating of the heart and builds … [a] 3D image of the heart.” A pediatric cardiologist describes the resulting 3D images as “beautiful.”

This MRI research is part of a fetal diagnostic project which is also exploring scans using “four ultrasound probes at the same time – current scans use one – to get a more detailed picture.” This process produces a more wholistic composite image.

 

NASA COMPOSITE IMAGERY (SINGLE MEDIUM)

ERF’s imaging process is conceptually similar to the technologies used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to produce wide-area satellite images of the earth’s surface. Until the launch of the Deep Space Climate Observatory Satellite (DSOVR), which now orbits one million miles from earth, NASA had no camera positioned sufficiently far from earth to capture the globe’s entire sunlit surface in a single photograph. As previously noted, an endoscope’s objective lens must also operate too near to an embryo or fetus to permit its entire anatomy to be imaged in a single frame. This is the same constraint which complicates the capture of satellite imagery. Previous pictures of the earth could, therefore, only be created using digital stitching technology to make one large composite image from smaller segments. Scientists sometimes describe this final image (or “data set”) as a “mosaic,” comprised of many individual tiles.

HYBRID IMAGERY (MULTI-MEDIA)

A satellite picture can also be augmented by aerial photography (cameras on aircraft platforms) to improve resolution. Hybrid images of this sort can be created by superimposing black and white imagery (for still higher resolution) over color pictures of the same area, the latter to optimize chromic (color) fidelity.

The scientific press, for instance, reports that the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) “combined over one thousand precise, calibrated satellite images with other data from the continent’s surface to create a single picture of the entire continent.” The high magnification factor (think telephoto lenses which enlarge image objects) of each of these puzzle pieces yielded a composite picture depicting more detail than would have been visible in a single photo shot with a wide angle lens.

VEA AL BEBE

Stock Image Resources

Many stock image resources are available across the internet.  These links provide quick access to embryonic and fetal imagery available for free or for purchase.

About ERF

The Education Resource Fund is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) science foundation, which facilitates the creation and distribution of a broad range of instructional materials authored and produced by individuals and organizations whose branded and copyrighted projects (domestic and international) advance the state of knowledge in subject areas vital to the public interest.

Contact ERF

The Education Resource Fund
PO Box 3950
Laguna Hills, CA  92654

(949) 773-2189