From Conception to Birth: A Life Unfolds

The splendor and beauty of a child’s growth and development in the womb--seen through unforgettable images made possible by revolutionary advances in visualization technology

What’s happening with the baby now? All expectant parents ask this question throughout the exhilirating months of pregnancy. Fuzzy sonograms and doctor’s explanations can provide basic information, but through Alexander Tsiaras’ remarkable achievements in medical imaging technology, parents can see, for the first time, the awe-inspiring process of a new life unfolding, in stunning, vivid detail.

The milestones of pregnancy which before could only be described can now be witnessed: the heart’s first beats; the appearance of color in the eye; the emergence of toes and teeth; the brain and nervous system directing development; the first movement of tiny legs and arms; the first indications of gender; the wondrous symbiosis of mother and child; the symphony of the body’s systems coming into being and working in concert. The book tracks the development of a baby from the moment of conception, through the explosively complex early stages of development and the amazing stages of growth as the baby is nurtured by the mother, ending with the joy of birth.

All this is made possible by revolutions in two sciences. As biologists have decoded the molecular basis of life, computer scientists have developed non-invasive, three-dimensional techniques for visualizing the body. Alexander Tsiaras has been a pioneer in merging these explorations and discoveries. He has created a virtual camera studio that enables him to view a human body or any part of it individually, scan it, enlarge it, rotate it, adjust its transparency so that we can view inside a living being, and light it from any angle. The result is an ability to illuminate the unseen elements that make us who we are, and the miraculous images in From Conception to Birth.

Alexander Tsiaras, President and CEO of Anatomical Travelogue, Inc., has over twenty years of experience in the worlds of medicine, research and art and has won world recognition as a photojournalist, artist and writer. His work has been featured on numerous television programs and the covers of Life, The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian, Discover, Geo and The London Times Magazine. Much of the work for this book was done in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health, The National Museum of Health and Medicine of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and New York University School of Medicine. Tsiaras is a regular keynote speaker at medical conventions worldwide, including the Visible Human Conference sponsored by the National Library of Medicine at the National Institute of Health and Medicine Meets Virtual Reality. He has also lectured with Stephen Hawking at the MIT Media Lab. Mr. Tsiaras lives in New York City with his family.