Egg to organism: Visualizing the concepts of development Abstract The field of Developmental Biology has undergone a dramatic revolution over the past three decades, leading to a global understanding of the principles and molecules that guide embryonic development of all multi-cellular organisms. These discoveries have far-reaching implications on the future of regenerative medicine that will impact every person. The challenge is to devise new ways to effectively convey the principles of Developmental Biology to a broad audience. The essence of embryonic development is the ability of cells to follow rules - dictated by the genome - that determine the final fate and shape of each cell. A variety of human social situations may resemble such interactions. By creating a dialogue between scientific pictures and images from our human world that serve as metaphors and exemplify each of the paradigms, a new visual way to present the concepts of Developmental Biology to the general public was devised. The cross talk between the two worlds should resonate with the personal experiences of the viewer, to generate a new type of understanding.