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Each year, rigorous science and dazzling artistry meet in Nikon's Small World photomicrography competition.
Started in 1975, the contest celebrates the beauty of images taken through a light microscope. Scientists and hobbyists alike enter, and the winner receives a $3,000 prize. This year, the competition celebrates its 50th anniversary, and it received about 2,100 photo entries from 80 countries.
If sometimes unnerving, the images are always stunning, and this year's contest is no exception.
1st place
This year's first place prize was awarded to a groundbreaking image of mouse brain tumor cells, taken by Bruno Cisterna, a faculty member at Augusta University's Medical College of Georgia. The photo reveals how disruptions in the cell's cytoskeleton – the structural framework and “highways” known as microtubules – can lead to diseases such as Alzheimer's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease).
Cisterna's research was published in May in the Journal of Cell Biology.
Bruno Cisterna spent about three months perfecting the staining process to ensure clear visibility of the cells in this image.
Bruno Cisterna & Eric Vitriol / Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University / Nikon Small World2nd place
Second place was awarded to Marcel Clemens, an astronomer turned photographer based in Italy. His image shows an electrical arc between a pin and a wire.
Marcel Clemens (Verona, Italy) / Nikon Small World3rd place
This image of a cannabis plant leaf, captured by Chris Romaine of Port Townsend, Washington, showcases hairlike plant appendages called trichomes. The bubbles are cannabinoid vesicles — fluid-filled, blisterlike structures.
Chris Romaine (Port Townsend, Wash.) / Nikon Small World“Sometimes, we overlook the tiny details of the world around us," said Eric Flem, communications manager at Nikon Instruments. "Nikon Small World serves as a reminder to pause, appreciate the power and beauty of the little things, and to cultivate a deeper curiosity to explore and question.”
Scroll through to see other the highlights of this year's competition:
You say "ladybird," I say "ladybug"
Autofluorescence in the face of a little two-spotted ladybird, the British and Canadian name for a ladybug.
Angus Rae / Australian National University / Nikon Small WorldSlime mold
Slime mold on a rotten twig with water droplets.Ferenc Halmos (Hungary) / Nikon Small WorldMosquito larva
Anne Patricia Algar (U.K.) / Nikon Small WorldSo many eyes ...
Eyes of a green crab spider.Paweł Błachowicz (Poland) / Nikon Small World Crystals
Recrystallized mixture of hydroquinone and myoinositol.
Marek Miś Photography (Poland)
/ Nikon Small WorldThere’s a wasp in there ...
An insect egg parasitized by a wasp.Alison K. Pollack (California) / Nikon Small WorldButterfly wings
Wing scales of a butterfly on a medical syringe needle.Daniel Knop (Germany) / Nikon Small WorldGrimace for the camera!
Transverse section of stem of bracken fern.David Maitland / St. Andrew's / Nikon Small WorldReflective eggs
Golden bug eggs on a sage leaf.Jochen Stern (Germany) / Nikon Small WorldWater fleas
Two water fleas with embryos, left, and eggs, right.Marek Miś Photography (Poland)
/ Nikon Small WorldFeathery antenna
Antenna of a mole crabIgor Robert Siwanowicz / Howard Hughes Medical Institute / Nikon Small WorldHidden world in a grain of sand
Beach sand.Zhang Chao / Chinese Academy of Sciences / Nikon Small World Slime mold (Part II)
Focus-stacked composite of 337 exposures at 10x lifesize of a slime mold from California's Eldorado National Forest.Timothy Boomer / WildMacro.com / Nikon Small World Sea star
Nervous system of a young sea star.Laurent Formery & Nathaniel Clarke / Stanford University / Nikon Small World
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