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Long gone are the days when the marvels of human conception and fetal development were hidden from view. In
Life’s Greatest Miracle, PBS’s
Nova employs microphotography to bring the basics of reproduction to your TV. Narrated by John Lithgow, the film shows the production of sperm cells at an average rate of 100 million a day (each constituting a unique genetic package), then contrasts quantity with quality--viewers learn that a woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have. But the primary focus is fertilization of the egg and fetal development, culminating in birth. Chock-full of fascinating information made completely accessible to nonscientists,
Life’s Greatest Miracle shows us the first cell divisions occurring within 24 hours of fertilization, the beginnings of the nervous system and brain at three weeks, the eyes developing at five weeks when the embryo is a mere one-fifth of an inch long, and more.
Life’s Greatest Miracle takes the mystery out of reproduction, but leaves plenty of awe in its place.
This film is an appropriate scientific adjunct for birds-and-bees discussions with children and teenagers. However, parents may want to preview the birth scene which, although sensitively filmed, may be too intense for younger viewers. --
Patty Stuart
Video Details
NOVA collaborates with Swedish scientific photographer Lennart Nilsson to use breathtaking new footage and state-of-the-art computer animation to show - in more complete detail than ever before - the making of a human life. Among the stunning sequences shot by Nilsson is the incredible voyage of the sperm toward the egg. Other events captured in Life?s Greatest Miracle include the journey of the fertilized ovum down the fallopian tube, the hatching of the embryo from its confining shell on day six, and the miraculous transformation of an embryo from a ball of cells into three layers from which all the body?s organs will emerge.
