A cool new way to see your unborn child

There is a natural curiosity about what our children look like before they are born. the most common way for us to visualize them as they are growing is through the pictures taken during any of the many ultrasounds an expectant mother might have during her pregnancy. The days of those blurry snaps of yet to be born children may be a thing of the past soon.

Thanks to Jorge Lopes, a Brazilian designer, you may soon be able to order up a 3 dimensional sculpture of that growing baby. Lopes has discovered a way to take all the data gathered during ultrasound and MRI exams and then run that data through a 3D printing method called rapid prototyping.

However not only expectant families are interested in this new way to physically visualize an unborn child. the doctors responsible for bringing those children into the world are also extremely interested.

But the invention has already attracted the attention of medical experts. “For doctors this is a fantastic development and it is absolutely unique,” said Stuart Campbell, head of obstetrics and gynaecology at King’s College London and a pioneer of the use of ultrasound diagnosis in the 1980s

Source: Times Online – Invention allows pregnant women to hold models of their unborn babies

pictures courtesy of Times Online