Nikon has announced the winners of its classic photomicrography competition. All the entries are spectacular, but these are the top 10.
10th place: Brittle star (8x) by Dr Alvaro Migotto.
9th place: Myrmica sp. (ant) carrying its larva (5x) by Geir Drange.
8th place: Pleurobrachia sp. (sea gooseberry) larva (500x) by Gerd A. Guenther.
7th place: Eye organ of a Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) third-instar larvae (60x) by Dr Michael John Bridge.
6th place: Cosmarium sp. (desmid) near a Sphagnum sp. leaf (100x) by Marek Miś.
5th place: Cacoxenite (mineral) from La Paloma Mine, Spain (18x) by Honorio Cócera-La Parra.
4th place: Drosophila melanogaster visual system halfway through pupal development, showing retina (gold), photoreceptor axons (blue) and brain (green) (1500x) by Dr W. Ryan Williamson.
3rd place: Human bone cancer (osteosarcoma) showing actin filaments (purple), mitochondria (yellow) and DNA (blue) (63x) by Dr Dylan Burnette.
2nd place: Live newborn lynx spiderlings (6x) by Walter Piorkowski.
1st place: The blood-brain barrier in a live zebrafish embryo (20x) by Dr. Jennifer L. Peters and Dr Michael R. Taylor.
Don’t like these? Go to Nikon’s Smallworld site, pick your own favourite and let us know in the comments.