December 16, 2013 3:29 PM EST
T he universe’s wonders are all around us — you just have to look close enough.
Every year, the Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition asks microscope-wielding photographers the world over to send their most magnificent imagery of the magnified world. The result? Beautiful colors, unusual textures and unique patterns visible only under scientific instruments.
This year, more than 2,100 still images and movies were submitted from artists in 71 different countries—the largest field of competing countries in the contest’s 10-year history. The images collected in the above gallery represent the 10 winners, plus 10 more honorable mentions.
Honorable Mention: Proboscis of a blowfly. Michael Gibson—Olympus Bioscapes Honorable Mention: Adult mouse cerebral cortex. Dr. Claudia Barros—Olympus Bioscapes Honorable Mention: Black beetle. Pekka Honkakoski—Olympus Bioscapes Honorable mention: Tracheae of a silkworm. Michael Gibson—Olympus Bioscapes Honorable mention (Video Still): Axons in a mouse brainstem. Dr. Ali Ertürk—Olympus Bioscapes Honorable Mention: Anemone flower. Masoumeh "Sahar" Khodaverdi—Olympus Bioscapes Honorable Mention: Chick embryonic kidney. Dr. Poulomi Ray—Olympus Bioscapes Honorable Mention: Tip of the proboscis of a Viceroy butterfly. Dr. Matthew S. Lehnert and Catherine P. Mulvane—Olympus Bioscapes Honorable mention (Video Still): Cell division, movements and cytoplasmic streaming of the desmid Euastrum oblongum . Dr. Jens Hallfeldt—Olympus Bioscapes Honorable Mention: Placental vasculature of a transgenic mouse embryo. Amanda Phillips-Yzaguirre—Olympus Bioscapes 10th Place (Video Still): Paramecium , showing contactile vacuole and ciliary motion. Ralph Grimm—Olympus Bioscapes 9th Place: Head and legs of a caddisfly larva. Fabrice Parais—Olympus Bioscapes 8th Place: Mouse tail stained for the K15 (green) hair follicle stem cell marker as well as Ki67 (red), which marks proliferating cells. Dr. Yaron Fuchs—Olympus Bioscapes 7th Place: Phantom midge larva (Chaoborus ). Charles Krebs—Olympus Bioscapes 6th Place: Gonocerus acuteangulatus , two hours old. Kurt Wirz—Olympus Bioscapes 5th Place: Mouse embryonic fibroblasts showing the actin filaments (red) and DNA (blue). Dr. Dylan Burnette—Olympus Bioscapes 4th Place: Stained transverse section of a lily flower bud. Spike Walker—Olympus Bioscapes 3rd Place: A composite image showing a collection of single-cell fresh water algae, desmids. Dr. Igor Siwanowicz—Olympus Bioscapes 2nd Place: A lateral view of a black mastiff bat embryo (Molossus rufus ). Dorit Hockman—Olympus Bioscapes 1st Place: Open trap of aquatic carnivorous plant, humped bladderwort (Utricularia gibba ). Dr. Igor Siwanowicz—Olympus Bioscapes More Must-Reads from TIME Where Trump 2.0 Will Differ From 1.0 How Elon Musk Became a Kingmaker The Power—And Limits—of Peer Support The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 Column: If Optimism Feels Ridiculous Now, Try Hope The Future of Climate Action Is Trade Policy FX’s Say Nothing Is the Must-Watch Political Thriller of 2024 Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision