Nikon Small World Competition 2017 Winners

Honorable Mention by Emre Can Alagöz, Istanbul, Turkey: The eyes of a jumping spider, magnified 6x. (Photo by Emre Can Alagöz/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

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: Honorable Mention: A dandelion cross section showing curved stigma with pollen, magnified 25x. (Photo by Dr. Robert Markus/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

The 4th place winner shows the everted scolex (head) of a tapeworm magnified 200x. (Photo by Teresa Zgoda/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Image of Distinction: Moth eggs in spider silk, magnified 16x. (Photo by Walter Piorkowski/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Image of Distinction: Nsutite and Cacoxenite, types of minerals, magnified 5x. (Photo by Emilio Carabajal Márquez/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Honorable Mention: Ganglion cells expressing fluorescent proteins in a mouse retina, magnified 40x. (Photo by Dr Keunyoung Kim/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

10th place went to a picture of weevils, magnified 80x. (Photo by Dr Csaba Pintér/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Image of Distinction: Eyes of a digger wasp, with condensation, magnified 20x. (Photo by Laurie Knight/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Image of Distinction: a selection of rotifers, magnified 20x. (Photo by Frank Fox/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Fifth place went to mould on a tomato magnified 3.9x. (Photo by Dean Lerman/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Second place went to a seed head on a plant, magnified 2x. (Photo by Dr Havi Sarfaty/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Image of Distinction: A natural bridge connecting the abdomen and thorax of an ant, magnified 5x. (Photo by Can Tunçer/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Image of Distinction: the head of a beetle, magnified 10x. (Photo by Dr Jan Michels/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

14th place was awarded to a shot of common Mestra butterfly eggs, laid on a leaf, magnified 7.5x. (Photo by David Millard/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

First place: Immortalized human skin cells expressing fluorescently tagged keratin, Amsterdam. (Photo by Bram van den Broek, Andriy Volkov, Kees Jalink, Nicole Schwarz and Reinhard Windoffer/Netherlands Cancer Institute, BioImaging Facility and Department of Cell Biology/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Third place: Living Volvox algae releasing its daughter colonies, Nantes, France. (Photo by Jean-Marc Babalian/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Thirteenth place: Exaerete frontalis (orchid cuckoo bee) from the collections of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Ramsbury, United Kingdom. (Photo by Levon Biss/Levon Biss Photography Ltd/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Fifteenth place: Third-trimester fetus of Megachiroptera (fruit bat), Greeley, Colo. (Photo by Rick Adams/University of Northern Colorado, Department of Biological Sciences/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Sixth place: Lily pollen, Southampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by David A. Johnston/University of Southampton/University Hospital Southampton, Biomedical Imaging Unit/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Seventh place: Individually labeled axons in an embryonic chick ciliary ganglion, Nagoya, Japan. (Photo by Ryo Egawa/Nagoya University, Graduate School of Medicine/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Eighth place: Newborn rat cochlea with sensory hair cells (green) and spiral ganglion neurons (red), Bern, Switzerland. (Photo by Michael Perny/ University of Bern, Institute for Infectious Diseases/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Eleventh Place: Plastic fracturing on credit card hologram,Grand Prairie, Tex. (Photo by Steven Simon/Simon Photography/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Ninth place: Growing cartilage-like tissue in the lab using bone stem cells (collagen fibers in green and fat deposits in red), Southampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Catarina Moura, Sumeet Mahajan, Richard Oreffo and Rahul Tare/University of Southampton, Institute for Life Sciences/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Twelfth place: Opiliones (daddy longlegs) eye, Issaquah, Wash. (Photo by Charles Krebs/Charles Krebs Photography/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

If you want more awesome content, subscribe to Design You Trust Facebook page.

More Inspiring Stories

Surreal Black And White Analog Photo-Montages By Thomas Barbèy

GuruShots: Winning Photographs from The Impressive Still Life Contest

Spectacular Winning Images from the 2025 Underwater Awards Australasia

Vintage Photos Capture Lovely Moments Of Australian Children In The Summer

Stunning Galaxies Photos From Astronomy Photographer Of The Year

Stunning Photos of Tina Turner Posing in a Bob Mackie Winged-Costume in Los Angeles, California, 1977

The Serendipitous Clouds And Faux Reflections Of Photographer Kanghee Kim

Anthropocene Mapping: The Human Influence On Earth

Poolside Glamour: Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen Shot by Helmut Newton for Vogue, December 1991

Artist Creates Vivid Canvases Where Fantasy Bleeds Into the Everyday, With Playful Yet Unsettling Compositions Questioning Human‑centric Worldviews

"One Photo, Four Seasons": This Is How 8 Different Locations Around The World Look Across The Four Seasons

The Dreadful Beauty Of Abandoned Places

Spectacular Winning Photos from the 2025 World Food Photography Awards

Artist Gonzalo Pizarro Creates Stunning Textural Artworks From Oriented Strand Board

The World's Largest LED Light Sculpture

Eerie Photographs Captured By An Urban Explorer Show An Abandoned Mental Asylum Crumbling Into Disrepair

Photographer Elaine Li Captures Beautiful Pictures Of Urban Landscapes In Unusual Ways

Wonderful Sunny Pics Document A Spring Break In United States In The 1980s

I Fought The Law: Photographs By Olivia Locher Of The Strangest Laws From Each Of The 50 States

A Scary Side of Beauty Culture

93-Year-Old Grandma & Her Grandson Dress-Up In Ridiculous Outfits, And It’s Brilliant

Breathtaking Surreal Self Portraits By Rachel Baran

A Photographer Has Captured Hundreds Of Leaves To Show The Beauty Of Diversity And Imperfection

Absolutely Stunning Crocodile Photos, 65 Million Years In The Making

Soviet Youth Culture: Goths, Punks And Metalheads Of The USSR

Nostalgic Photos Of American Teenage Girls At Texas Beaches During The 1980s

Wyoming Manufacturer Builds World's Largest Coal Hauler

Incredible Cinematic Snapshots From The Forgotten Regions Of West Bohemia by Marek Walchetseder

Brazil ready for World Cup

Science Fiction & Fantasy Costume Contestants Posing At The 24th World Science Fiction Convention In Cleveland, 1966