Richard Harland begins his talk by asking how a fertilized egg goes from a single cell to a complex, multicellular organism during vertebrate development.  He explains that amphibians, and in particular Xenopus laevis, are an excellent system for addressing this question.  For example, early experiments by Spemann and Mangold in newt embryos were the first to demonstrate the presence of an “organizer” region, and more recent studies in Xenopus have identified many signaling molecules that control embryogenesis. Throughout his talk, Harland shows stunning movies to illustrate the beauty and complexity of early frog development.