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30 Jaw-Dropping Science Images From The 2023 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition
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The winners of the 49th annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition have been revealed. This year’s first-place prize was awarded to Hassanain Qambari, assisted by Jayden Dickson for his image of a rodent optic nerve head. The second-place winner is Ole Bielfeldt with his image of a matchstick igniting against the surface of a matchbox. Third place was awarded to Malgorzata Lisowska for her image of breast cancer cells.
In addition to the top three winners, the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition recognized 83 photos out of nearly 1,900 photo entries from 72 countries.
“The past 49 years of this competition have borne witness to many innovative and pioneering advancements in scientific imaging technology,” Eric Flem, Senior Manager, CRM and Communications at Nikon Instruments, said. “I am consistently awed by how these advancements make it possible to create art out of science for the public to enjoy,” he added.
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2nd Place - Ole Bielfeldt
Macrofying
Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
"Matchstick igniting by the friction surface of the box."
Nikon Small World is very well known for being the leading forum where people celebrate the skill and beauty of photomicrography.
Competition organizers shared that there are 4 factors to consider when evaluating submissions: originality, informational content, technical proficiency, and visual impact. To select the winners, judges looked at entries that came from all around the globe.
11th Place - Dr. Diego García
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Real Sociedad Española de Física
Madrid, Spain
"Crystallized sugar syrup."
It looks like a cross between a stack of crumpled paper, and an ocean on a planet with lots of moons.
14th Place - John-Oliver Dum
Medienbunker Produktion
Bendorf, Rheinland Pfalz, Germany
"Sunflower pollen on an acupuncture needle."
The judges of the 2023 Nikon Small World Competition were: Ed Cara, Science and Health Reporter at Gizmodo, James Cutmore, Picture Editor at BBC Science Focus Magazine, Dr. Gary Laevsky, Director of the Confocal Imaging Facility at Princeton University, Dr. Igor Siwanowicz, Research Scientist at Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Dr. Clare Waterman, Cell Biologist and Member of the National Academy of Sciences.
8th Place - Stefan Eberhard
The University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia, USA
"Caffeine crystals."
12th Place - Sherif Abdallah Ahmed
Tanta University
Faculty of Science
Department of Zoology
Tanta, Egypt
"Cuckoo wasp standing on a flower."
I’m absolutely terrified of wasps; the typical “yellow jacket” ones, as it always seems like they want to come after me, LOL. Maybe they smell my high blood glucose? IDK, but I might not be so scared if the local wasps looked as pretty as these little guys! 😂
The Nikon Small World competition was founded in 1974 and in 2011, Nikon Small World in Motion was launched because of advancements in technology that made it possible to record videos or digital time-lapse photos through a microscope.
The 2023 video winners were announced on September 26th.
17th Place - Yuan Ji
World Expo Museum
Shanghai, China
"Chinese moon moth (Actias ningpoana) wing scales."
Here's what they look like when not not magnified moon-moth-...1e1c35.jpg 
20th Place - Daniel Castranova And Dr. Brant M. Weinstein
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Bethesda, Maryland, USA
"Adult transgenic zebrafish head showing blood vessels (blue), lymphatic vessels (yellow), and the skin and scales (magenta)."
Hassanain Qambari, the first-place winner, shared: “The Nikon Small World competition is great, as it showcases amazing work across many disciplines from around the world. All the images presented in the competition represent the beauty and artistic side of science which may otherwise get overlooked. Such a competition not only celebrates the participants' hard work and passion but may also draw and inspire young scientists to pursue a career in STEM. It certainly inspired me.”
Image Of Distinction - Priscilla Vieto Bonilla And Brandon Antonio Segura Torres
Universidad Nacional del Comahue
Department of Biological Sciences
San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina
"One-week-old Axolotl after hatching."
3rd Place - Malgorzata Lisowska
Independent Value-Based Healthcare Consultant Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
"Breast cancer cells."
Omg. How on earth does something that looks so pretty in an image bring so much pain & sadness?? If no one had said what this was, I’d still be thinking it’s just another cute screensaver pic. Crazy stuff & totally mind-blowing. 🫢
Calling all scientists, photography and video enthusiasts! The Nikon Small World Competition, marking its 50th anniversary in 2024, invites everyone to join in. To be part of this incredible milestone, you can upload your digital images and videos directly on nikonsmallworld.com. Entry forms for Nikon’s 2024 Small World and Small World in Motion Competitions are available at enter.nikonsmallworld.com.
Image Of Distinction - Cagri Yalcin
Impressions Microscopiques
Amsterdam, Noord Holland, The Netherlands
"Crystals of malonic acid dissolved in ethanol."
Image Of Distinction - Walter Machielsen
Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands
"Buckthorn trichomes."
Image Of Distinction - Danny J. Sanchez
Mineralien LLC
Valley Village, California, USA
"Golden rutile in quartz."
NGL, this looks like it could be a dystopian city in an unknown land! 🤩
Image Of Distinction - Yusuf Ziya Öztürk
TCDD Teknik Müh. Müş. A.Ş.
Ankara, Çankaya, Turkey
"Bee"
4th Place - John-Oliver Dum
Medienbunker Produktion
Bendorf, Rheinland Pfalz, Germany
"Venomous fangs of a small tarantula."
Image Of Distinction - Dr. Frantisek Bednar
Svosov, Zilinsky, Slovakia
"Slime mold (Trichia crateriformis)."
Image Of Distinction - Raghuram Annadana
Raghuram Annadana Photography
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
"Developing stamen and stigma inside a Hibiscus flower bud."
Image Of Distinction - Charles B. Krebs
Charles Krebs Photography
Issaquah, Washington, USA
"Mushroom gills showing sporophores (sporangiophores)."
Image Of Distinction - Dr. Håkan Kvarnström
Bromma, Stockholm, Sweden
"Amoeba (Arcella)."
Honorable Mention - Dr. Amy Engevik
Medical University of South Carolina
Department of Regenerative Medicine & Cell Biology
Charleston, South Carolina, USA
"Neonatal mouse intestinal tissue cells."
Image Of Distinction - Alison Pollack
San Anselmo, California, USA
"Slime mold (Diderma tigrinum)."
Image Of Distinction - Michael Landgrebe
Weissensberg, Bavaria, Germany
"Fossil diatom."
Image Of Distinction - Dr. Pichaya Lertvilai
University of California, San Diego
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
La Jolla, California, USA
"Coral (Acropora granulosa) fluorescing under blue light."
Image Of Distinction - Timothy Boomer
WildMacro
Vacaville, California, USA
"Slime mold (Didymium sp.) fruiting bodies."
1st Place - Hassanain Qambari And Jayden Dickson
Lions Eye Institute
Department of Physiology & Pharmacology
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
"Rodent optic nerve head showing astrocytes (yellow), contractile proteins (red) and retinal vasculature (green)."
Image Of Distinction - Ricardo Roberto Fernández Martínez
IES Virgen de la Luz
Department of Biology and Geology
Avilés, Asturias, Spain
"Tail of planktonic shrimp larvae."
Honorable Mention - Ángel Navarro Gómez
Madrid, Spain
"Carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea) head and antenna."
5th Place - Dr. David Maitland
Feltwell, Norfolk, United Kingdom
"Auto-fluorescing defensive hairs covering the leaf surface of Eleagnus angustifolia exposed to UV light."
18th Place - Scott Peterson
New Hope, Minnesota, USA
"A cryptocrystalline micrometeorite resting on a #80 testing sieve."
15th Place - Dr. Pichaya Lertvilai
University of California, San Diego
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
La Jolla, California, USA
"Fluorescent image of an Acropora sp. showing individual polyps with symbiotic zooxanthellae."
13th Place - Satu Paavonsalo And Dr. Sinem Karaman
University of Helsinki
Individualized Drug Therapy Research Program, Faculty of Medicine
Helsinki, Finland
"Blood and lymphatic vasculatures in the ear skin of an adult mouse."
Note: this post originally had 86 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Am I the only one who read all that and just accepted all those words without REALLY knowing what they said lol
Oh come on. Who amongst us has not popped to the shed to take a quick snap of the symbiotic zooxanthellae on Acropora fluorescing? I can barely move for beakers of ethanol dissolving my malonic acid crystals. /s
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Am I the only one who read all that and just accepted all those words without REALLY knowing what they said lol
Oh come on. Who amongst us has not popped to the shed to take a quick snap of the symbiotic zooxanthellae on Acropora fluorescing? I can barely move for beakers of ethanol dissolving my malonic acid crystals. /s
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