Gallery: Incredibly Small: Best Microscope Photos of the Year

  • Zebrafish Embryo
    01

    zebrafish-embryo-2

    Every year for nearly four decades, Nikon has received hundreds of entries in its Small World microscope photography contest. Every year, the images are more amazing, and this year's winners -- selected from nearly 2,000 submissions -- are undoubtedly the best yet. More Microscope Images:[![](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2012/10/creepy_70px.jpg)](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/nikon-creepy-close-ups/?rm)[Creepy Close-Ups: Best Microscope Critter Photos](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/nikon-creepy-close-ups?rm/) [![](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2012/10/nikon_2011_70px.jpg)](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/nikon-small-world-2011/?rm)[Super Small: Top 20 Microscope Photos of 2011](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/nikon-small-world-2011/?rm) [![](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2012/10/minimotion_70px.jpg)](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/02/best-microscope-videos/?rm) [Mini Motion: Award-Winning Microscope Videos](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/02/best-microscope-videos/?rm)Super-close-ups of garlic, snail fossils, stinging nettle, bat embryos, bone cancer and a ladybug are among the top images this year. The first place winner (above) shows the blood-brain barrier in a living zebrafish embryo, which Nikon believes is the first image ever to show the formation of this barrier in a live animal. “We used fluorescent proteins to look at brain endothelial cells and watched the blood-brain barrier develop in real-time,” the winners, Jennifer Peters and Michael Taylor of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, in Memphis, said in a press release. “We took a 3-dimensional snapshot under a confocal microscope. Then, we stacked the images and compressed them into one – pseudo coloring them in rainbow to illustrate depth.” Here are the top 20 photomicrographs from the 38th Nikon Small World competition, selected for their originality, informational content, and visual impact by a panel of scientists, journalists and optical imaging experts. __Above:__ 1st Place --------- __Jennifer Peters and Michael Taylor__, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee __Subject:__ The blood-brain barrier in a live zebrafish embryo __Technique:__ Confocal __Magnification:__ 20x
  • Lynx Spiders
    02

    lynx-spiders

    2nd Place --------- __Walter Piorkowski__, South Beloit, Illinois __Subject:__ Live newborn lynx spiderlings __Technique:__ Reflected Light/Fiber Optics/Image Stacking __Magnification:__ 6x
  • Human Bone Cancer
    03

    human-bone-cancer

    3rd Place --------- __Dylan Burnette__, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland __Subject:__ Human bone cancer (osteosarcoma) showing actin filaments (purple), mitochondria (yellow), and DNA (blue) __Technique:__ Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM) __Magnification:__ 63x
  • Fruit Fly
    04

    fruit-fly

    4th Place --------- __W. Ryan Williamson__, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, Virginia __Subject:__ *Drosophila melanogaster* visual system halfway through pupal development, showing retina (gold), photoreceptor axons (blue), and brain (green) __Technique:__ Confocal __Magnification:__ 1,500x
  • Cacoxenite
    05

    cacoxenite

    5th Place --------- __Honorio Cócera__, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain __Subject:__ Cacoxenite (mineral) from La Paloma Mine, Spain __Technique:__ Transmitted Light __Magnification:__ 18x
  • Algae Cell
    06

    algae-cell

    6th Place --------- __Marek Mis__, Marek Mis Photography, Suwalki, Poland __Subject:__ *Cosmarium* sp. (desmid) near a *Sphagnum* sp. leaf __Technique:__ Polarized Light __Magnification:__ 100x
  • Fruit Fly Eye
    07

    fruit-fly-eye

    7th Place --------- __Michael Bridge__, HSC Core Research Facilities -- Cell Imaging Lab, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah __Subject:__ Eye organ of a *Drosophila melanogaste*r (third-instar larvae) __Technique:__ Confocal __Magnification:__ 60x
  • Sea Gooseberry
    Gerd Guenther
    08

    sea-gooseberry

    8th Place --------- __Gerd A.Guenther__, Düsseldorf, Germany __Subject:__ *Pleurobrachia* sp. (sea gooseberry) larva __Technique:__ Differential Interference Contrast __Magnification:__ 500x
  • Ant Carrying Larva
    09

    ant-carrying-larva

    9th Place --------- __Geir Drange__, Borgen, Norway __Subject:__ *Myrmica* sp. (ant) carrying its larva __Technique:__ Reflected Light/Image Stacking __Magnification:__ 5x
  • Brittle Star
    ALVARO MIGOTTO
    10

    brittle-star

    10th Place ---------- __Alvaro Migotto__, University of São Paulo, Centro de Biologia Marinha, São Paulo Brazil __Subject:__ Brittle star __Technique:__ Stereomicroscopy, Darkfield __Magnification:__ 8x
  • Fruit Fly Larva
    11

    fruit-fly-larva

    11th Place ---------- __Jessica Von Stetina__, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts __Subject:__ Single optical section through the tip of the gut of a *Drosophila melanogaster* larva expressing a reporter for Notch signaling pathway activity (green), and stained with cytoskeletal (red) and nuclear (blue) markers __Technique:__ Confocal __Magnification:__ 25x
  • Lymphangiogenesis
    12

    lymphangiogenesis

    12th Place ---------- __Esra Guc__, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland __Subject:__ 3D lymphangiogenesis assay. Cells sprout from dextran beads embedded in fibrin gel __Technique:__ Fluorescence and Confocal __Magnification:__ 200x
  • Predatory Ciliate
    13

    predatory-ciliate

    13th Place ---------- __Diana Lipscomb,__ George Washington University, Washington, D.C. __Subject:__ *Sonderia* sp. (a ciliate that preys upon various algae, diatoms, and cyanobacteria) __Technique:__ Nomarski Interference Contrast __Magnification:__ 400x
  • Flower Pistil
    14

    flower-pistil

    14th Place ---------- __José R. Almodovar Rivera__, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico __Subject:__ Pistil of the flower of *Adenium obesum* __Technique:__ Image Stacking __Magnification:__ 10x
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