Gallery: Super Small: Top 20 Microscope Photos of the Year
011st-place
Every year, Nikon brings us some amazing microscope photos from its [annual competition](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/photomicrography/). This year's winners include images of a dinosaur bone, a microchip, a mouse nerve and HeLa cells. We're never disappointed with the photos from the [Nikon Small World](http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/) contest, and the top 20 judges picks contained in this gallery suggest that the photographers just keep getting better. These photos were selected from more than 2,000, but if you disagree with the judges, you can still pick your favorite in the popular vote contest throughout October. __Above:__ 1st Place --------- Photomicrographer: Igor Siwanowicz, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Germany Specimen: *Chrysopa sp.* (green lacewing) larva (20x) Technique: Confocal *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
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2nd Place --------- Photomicrographer: Donna Stolz, University of Pittsburgh, United States Specimen: Blade of grass (200x) Technique: Confocal stack reconstruction, autofluorescence *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
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3rd Place --------- Photomicrographer: Frank Fox, Fachhochschule Trier, Germany Specimen: *Melosira moniliformis*, living specimen (320X) Technique: Differential interference contrast *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
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4th Place --------- Photomicrographer: Robin Young, University of British Columbia, Canada Specimen: Intrinsic fluorescence in *Lepidozia reptans* (liverwort) (20X) Technique: Live mount, confocal microscopy *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
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5th Place --------- Photomicrographer: Alfred Pasieka, Germany Specimen: Microchip surface, 3D reconstruction (500X) Technique: Incident light, Normarski interference contrast *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
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6th Place --------- Photomicrographer: Dennis Callahan, California Institute of Technology, United States Specimen: Cracked gallium arsenide solar cell films (50X) Technique: Brightfield *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
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7th Place --------- Photomicrographer: Gabriel Luna, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States Specimen: Retinal flatmount of mouse nerve fiber layer (40X) Technique: Laser confocal scanning *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
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8th Place --------- Photomicrographer: Bernardo Cesare, Department of Geosciences, Padova, Italy Specimen: Graphite-bearing granulite from Kerala, India (2.5X) Technique: Polarized light *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
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9th Place --------- Photomicrographer: Jan Michels, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany Specimen: *Temora longicornis* (marine copepod), ventral view (10X) Technique: Confocal, autofluorescence and Congo red fluorescence *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
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10th Place ---------- Photomicrographer: Joan Röhl, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Germany Specimen: *Daphnia magna* (freshwater water flea) (100X) Technique: Differential interference contrast *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
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11th Place ---------- Photomicrographer: Jan Michels, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany Specimen: Ant head, frontal view (10X) Technique: Confocal, autofluorescence *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
1212th-place
12th Place ---------- Photomicrographer: Thomas Deerinck National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, United States Specimen: HeLa (cancer) cells (300X) Technique: 2-Photon fluorescence *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
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13th Place ---------- Photomicrographer: Dr. Stephen S. Nagy Montana Diatoms, United States Specimen: Curare vine in cross-section, *Chondrodendron tomentosum* (45X) Technique: Brightfield, digitally inverted *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
1414th-place
14th Place ---------- Photomicrographer: Yanping Wang, Beijing Planetarium, China Specimen: Sand (4X) Technique: Reflected light *Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World*
