during embryonic development, an entire organism is generated from a single cell. genetics and biochemistry have identified developmental signaling pathways, however, how embryonic patterns emerge in space and time remains more obscure. i will discuss our work using a combination of live‐cell imaging, microfluidics, micropatterning, and mathematical modeling to investigate spatial and temporal aspects of embryonic patterning by the tgf‐β signaling pathway, a key morphogen during all phases of development. our work reveals novel dynamic properties of the pathway and their implications for embryonic development and establishes human embryonic stem cells as a promising system for studying self‐organized patterning quantitatively.