Gallery: Incredibly Small: Best Microscope Photos of the Year
01zebrafish-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/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/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/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
02lynx-spiders
2nd Place --------- __Walter Piorkowski__, South Beloit, Illinois __Subject:__ Live newborn lynx spiderlings __Technique:__ Reflected Light/Fiber Optics/Image Stacking __Magnification:__ 6x
03human-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
04fruit-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
05cacoxenite
5th Place --------- __Honorio Cócera__, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain __Subject:__ Cacoxenite (mineral) from La Paloma Mine, Spain __Technique:__ Transmitted Light __Magnification:__ 18x
06algae-cell
6th Place --------- __Marek Mis__, Marek Mis Photography, Suwalki, Poland __Subject:__ *Cosmarium* sp. (desmid) near a *Sphagnum* sp. leaf __Technique:__ Polarized Light __Magnification:__ 100x
07fruit-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
Gerd Guenther08sea-gooseberry
8th Place --------- __Gerd A.Guenther__, Düsseldorf, Germany __Subject:__ *Pleurobrachia* sp. (sea gooseberry) larva __Technique:__ Differential Interference Contrast __Magnification:__ 500x
09ant-carrying-larva
9th Place --------- __Geir Drange__, Borgen, Norway __Subject:__ *Myrmica* sp. (ant) carrying its larva __Technique:__ Reflected Light/Image Stacking __Magnification:__ 5x
ALVARO MIGOTTO10brittle-star
10th Place ---------- __Alvaro Migotto__, University of São Paulo, Centro de Biologia Marinha, São Paulo Brazil __Subject:__ Brittle star __Technique:__ Stereomicroscopy, Darkfield __Magnification:__ 8x
11fruit-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
12lymphangiogenesis
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
13predatory-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
14flower-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
TCS User15ladybug-2
15th Place ---------- __Andrea Genre__, Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Italy __Subject:__ Section of a *Coccinella* (ladybug) leg __Technique:__ Confocal __Magnification:__ 10x
16snail-fossils
16th Place ---------- __Douglas Moore__, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point __Subject:__ Fossilized Turitella agate containing *Elimia tenera* (freshwater snails) and ostracods (seed shrimp) __Technique:__ Stereomicroscopy __Magnification:__ 7x
17stinging-nettle
17th Place ---------- __Charles Krebs__, Charles Krebs Photography, Issaquah, Washington __Subject:__ Stinging nettle trichome on leaf vein __Technique:__ Transmitted Light __Magnification:__ 100x
David Maitland18coral-sand
18th Place ---------- [__David Maitland__](http://www.davidmaitland.com), Feltwell, United Kingdom __Subject:__ Coral sand __Technique:__ Brightfield __Magnification:__ 100x
19garlic
19th Place ---------- __Somayeh Naghiloo__, Department of Plant Biology, University of Tabriz, Iran __Subject:__ Floral primordia of *Allium sativum* (garlic) __Technique:__ Epi-Illumination
20bat-embryos
20th Place ---------- __Dorit Hockman,__ University of Cambridge, Trinity College, Cambridge, United Kingdom __Subject:__ *Molossus rufu* (black mastiff bat) embryos __Technique:__ Brightfield
