I have always been fascinated by the beauty of life forms and deeply appreciating the comparative traditions of biological research. Large collections and precise descriptions of biological patterns will not only yield answers to questions we already have but also provide new questions and insights, as did the Linnean collections two hundred years ago or the explosion of omics data in the last two decades. Trained as a molecular geneticist, I was excited about the live-imaging platforms established by the Gregor lab. Applying these powerful tools, I am performing large-scale quantitative measurements on the key components of the Drosophila embryogenesis system. I believe that these measurements will provide an unprecedented chance to advance our understandings on the patterning mechanisms