16142 This medical animation on vaginal childbirth by Nucleus Medical Art may just be the most widely viewed medical animation in the world. So far, the animation has been watched over 950,000 times on Youtube and over 2,000,000 times on the company's web site in the past year.

"The degree of its popularity was a complete surprise," said medical illustrator Ronald L. Collins, CEO and co-founder of Nucleus Medical Art. According to Collins, pregnancy and delivery animations are favorites among visitors, but this particular animation stood out. "Our first day on YouTube the animation received over 10,000 views," he said, "and for a medical animation, that is about as viral as it gets."

On YouTube, the animation has spawned numerous comments ranging from viewers proclaiming the miracle of life to people swearing they will never have children because of the apparent pain of the birthing process. "We may have accidentally created the first Animated Contraceptive Device," said Collins.

The credit for the animation's visual quality goes to its creator, Director of Animation Thomas Brown, a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia's medical illustration program. "For teaching purposes, I focused on three clinically important elements: the baby, the mother's uterus, and the mother's spine," said Brown. "At the same time," he said, "the medical animation had to be visually pleasing and appropriate for anyone to look at, including young children."

The result is stunning: an educational 3D medical animation of labor and birth that is not too gory. To see other medical animations depicting labor, birth and delivery, visit the Nucleus Medical Art web site at www.nucleusinc.com.