The world we see with our eyes is just one view of reality, but microscopes can bring a smaller, practically invisible universe within reach.
Photographs taken through the lenses of a high-power ‘scope can reveal lifeforms and objects no person has ever seen.
They also highlight beautiful, artistic, and often shocking details in common objects, like soap bubbles, dried coffee, flowers, and butterfly tongues:
A butterfly proboscis.Jochen Schroeder/Nikon Small World
The Nikon Small World contest celebrates the most amazing microscope photos from around the world, and 2016’s competition was as amazing as any of the years before it: more than 2,000 entries from 70 countries. (I was a judge for the 40th year of the contest.)
Nikon will release the winners on Wednesday, October 19, via its Instagram account, @NikonInstruments.
Until then, soak in the finalists below — and cast a vote for your favorite.
Red speckled jewel beetle
Yousef Al Habshi/Nikon Small World
Eyes of a jumping spider
Yousef Al Habshi/Nikon Small World
Slime mold
Jose Almodovar/Nikon Small World
Zebrafish fin
Leonardo Andrade/Nikon Small World
Glycerin-based soapy solution
Haris Antonopoulos/Nikon Small World
Ammonite shell
Tiger beetle and a scale of the forester moth
Rudolf Büchi/Nikon Small World
Head of a skinbow zebrafish larvae
Chen Chen-Hui/Nikon Small World
Copper crystals
Honorio Cócera-La Parra/Nikon Small World
Human brain cells differentiated from embryonic stem cells
Fungus growing on cow dung
Michael Crutchley/Nikon Small World
Scales of a butterfly wing
Evan Darling/Nikon Small World
Mouse hand showing veins
Evan Darling/Nikon Small World
Fossil diatom composed of 20 individual photos
Green bottle fly
Erno Endre Gergley/Nikon Small World
Flow currents generated by an eight-week-old starfish larva
William Gilpin, Vivek N. Prakash, Manu Prakash/Nikon Small World
Butterfly scales
Scales of a butterfly wing Agrodiaetus thersites Chapman’s Blue maleAnne Gleich/Nikon Small World
Algae
Air bubbles in evaporating tequila
James Hayden/Nikon Small World
Rubber coated with a thin glass
James Hedrick/Nikon Small World
Cultured fat cells from a grizzly bear
Heiko T. Jansen, Jamie Gehring, Kimberly Rigano, Charles Robbins/Nikon Small World
Deep sea crustacean
Tomonari Kaji/Nikon Small World
Espresso coffee crystals
Vin Kitayama and Sanae Kitayama/Nikon Small World
Black elder tree flower stamen
Laurie Knight/Nikon Small World
Cross section of a lily of the valley
Falco Krüger/Nikon Small World
Brain matter of a transgenic mouse in 3D
Hei Ming Lai and Dr. Wutian Wu/Nikon Small World
Testis of a fruit fly
Christopher Large/Nikon Small World
Mosquito larva
Section of the cerebellum in a brain
Marc Leushacke/Nikon Small World
Surface of embryonic mouse kidney
Nils Lindstrom/Nikon Small World
Crystals of salicin, a painkiller, extracted from Willow tree bark
David Maitland/Nikon Small World
Caudal gill of a dragonfly larva
Air bubbles formed from melted ascorbic acid crystals
Leg of a water boatman
Algae cells
Jacek Myslowski/Nikon Small World
Water mite
Jacek Myslowski/Nikon Small World
Poison fangs of a centipede
Walter Piorkowski/Nikon Small World
Section of stem of a plant specimen
Edgar Javier Rincón/Nikon Small World
Robber fly
Crystals of diclofenac (also called Zorvolex), a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug
Adolfo Ruiz De Segovia/Nikon Small World
Oreina cacaliae
Wasp eyes
Jochen Schroeder/Nikon Small World
Front foot of a male diving beetle
Igor Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World
Inside of a humped bladderwort, a freshwater carnivorous plant
Igor Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World
Gear-like hind legs of a planthopper nymph
Igor Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World
Scales of a butterfly wing underside
Francis Sneyers/Nikon Small World
Leaves of a liverwort plant
Magdalena Turzańska/Nikon Small World
Diatoms
Arlene Wechezak/Nikon Small World
Galls of a mite and fungus on the surface of a scarlet firethorn plant
Györgyi Zséli/Nikon Small World
Ant leg
Györgyi Zséli/Nikon Small World
Source uk.businessinsider.com
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