Cool Science Image

Picture it. It's prom night and your date has just arrived. All at once, a beautiful evening is shattered when your parents bring out your baby pictures. Your mind is flooded with questions. Whose idea was it to do a Lady Godiva photo shoot when I was 2? Why did I let them photograph me after I accidentally flipped the pasta bowl on my head? Wasn't it an invasion of privacy when the doctor took those ultrasound photos? We don't want to speculate about prenatal privacy issues, but the arrival of new staff member MacIntyre Gilligan Gorham (pictured) has reminded us just how cool ultrasound really is.

Ultrasound is a routine procedure used by doctors to diagnose potential problems during the child's earliest development. The probe is a hand-held device that emits harmless high frequency sound waves. These waves bounce off the developing fetus and the echoes create an image like the one shown here. The sound waves used in ultrasound do not travel well through the air. For this reason doctors use gel to improve contact between the probe and test subject. Doctors ask that mothers have a full bladder when undergoing the procedure. Because the sound waves travel best through fluids, the full bladder creates a window through which doctors can achieve the clearest possible image of the developing fetus.


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			Baby Pictures Picture it. It's prom night and your date has just arrived. All at once, a beautiful evening is shattered when your parents bring out your baby pictures. Your mind is flooded with questions. Whose idea was it to do a Lady Godiva photo shoot when I was 2? Why did I let them photograph me after I accidentally flipped the pasta bowl on my head? Wasn't it an invasion of privacy when the doctor took those ultrasound photos? We don't want to speculate about prenatal privacy issues, but the arrival of new staff member MacIntyre Gilligan Gorham (pictured) has reminded us just how cool ultrasound really is. Ultrasound is a routine procedure used by doctors to diagnose potential problems during the child's earliest development. The probe is a hand-held device that emits harmless high frequency sound waves. These waves bounce off the developing fetus and the echoes create an image like the one shown here. The sound waves used in ultrasound do not travel well through the air. For this reason doctors use gel to improve contact between the probe and test subject. Doctors ask that mothers have a full bladder when undergoing the procedure. Because the sound waves travel best through fluids, the full bladder creates a window through which doctors can achieve the clearest possible image of the developing fetus.