Strange and beautiful things under a microscope in pictures | Environment

Strange and beautiful things under a microscope – in pictures

A competition, now in its 43rd year, dedicated to showcasing the beautiful and bizarre as seen under a light microscope attracted over 2,000 entries from 88 countries. Here’s a selection of the winning and commended images from the 2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition

Sarah Gilbert

Main image: The eyes of a jumping spider, magnified 6x, from the Nikon Small World photography competition 2017, where photographers and scientists to submit images of all things visible under a microscope. Photograph: Emre Can Alagöz

Sun 8 Oct 2017 07.00 EDT Last modified on Thu 26 Mar 2020 10.34 EDT

Honorable Mention: A dandelion cross section showing curved stigma with pollen, magnified 25x
Photograph: Dr. Robert Markus
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The 4th place winner shows the everted scolex (head) of a tapeworm magnified 200x
Photograph: Teresa Zgoda
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Image of Distinction: Moth eggs in spider silk, magnified 16x
Photograph: Walter Piorkowski
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Image of Distinction: Nsutite and Cacoxenite, types of minerals, magnified 5x
Photograph: Emilio Carabajal Márquez
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Honorable Mention: Ganglion cells expressing fluorescent proteins in a mouse retina, magnified 40x
Photograph: Dr Keunyoung Kim
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10th place went to a picture of weevils, magnified 80x
Photograph: Dr Csaba Pintér
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Image of Distinction: Eyes of a digger wasp, with condensation, magnified 20x
Photograph: Laurie Knight
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Image of Distinction: a selection of rotifers, magnified 20x
Photograph: Frank Fox
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Fifth place went to mould on a tomato magnified 3.9x
Photograph: Dean Lerman
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Second place went to a seed head on a plant, magnified 2x
Photograph: Dr Havi Sarfaty
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Image of Distinction: A natural bridge connecting the abdomen and thorax of an ant, magnified 5x
Photograph: Can Tunçer
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Image of Distinction: the head of a beetle, magnified 10x
Photograph: Dr Jan Michels
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14th place was awarded to a shot of common Mestra butterfly eggs, laid on a leaf, magnified 7.5x
Photograph: David Millard
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Martina Birk

Update: 2024-03-12

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