Back in the 1990s, Bradley Smith (who has a PhD in anatomy and specializes in medical visualization) was funded by the NIH to photograph and take MRI scans of human embryos and post them to the web. The embryos were specimens housed at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington D.C. The collection of images was originally intended for clinicians, but Smith, now associate dean for creative work, research and graduate education at the University of Michigan, says these images were more interesting to the public than he had anticipated. Smith unpacks our complicated relationship with embryo imagery.