--- title: Tiny Beauties: Life's Smallest Wonders As Seen Through a Microscope description: Microscope-wielding photographers send their most magnificent imagery of the magnified world. canonical: https://time.com/11720/tiny-beauties-lifes-smallest-wonders-as-seen-through-a-microscope/ author: Mia Tramz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-12-16T20:29:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:08:36.272Z article:section: Science og:title: Tiny Beauties: Life's Smallest Wonders As Seen Through a Microscope og:description: Microscope-wielding photographers send their most magnificent imagery of the magnified world. og:url: https://time.com/11720/tiny-beauties-lifes-smallest-wonders-as-seen-through-a-microscope/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9473df445c724ae/69876cf606f2c1621e332afa/2013-hm-gibson-1-blowfly-proboscis.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Honorable Mention: Proboscis of a blowfly. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tiny Beauties: Life's Smallest Wonders As Seen Through a Microscope twitter:description: Microscope-wielding photographers send their most magnificent imagery of the magnified world. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9473df445c724ae/69876cf606f2c1621e332afa/2013-hm-gibson-1-blowfly-proboscis.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tiny Beauties: Life's Smallest Wonders As Seen Through a Microscope  by [Mia Tramz](/author/mia-tramz/)  ## Mia Tramz Dec 16, 2013 8:29 PM CUT  Honorable Mention: Proboscis of a blowfly. Honorable Mention: Proboscis of a blowfly.Michael Gibson—Olympus Bioscapes  by [Mia Tramz](/author/mia-tramz/)  ## Mia Tramz Dec 16, 2013 8:29 PM CUT The universe’s wonders are all around us — you just have to look close enough. Every year, the [Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition](http://www.olympusbioscapes.com/ "undefined") 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). 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