Small Worlds

Small Worlds


The Nikon International Small World Photomicrography Competition
recently announced its list of winners for 2010. The competition began
in 1974 as a means to recognize and applaud the efforts of those
involved with photography through the light microscope. Peering into the
small worlds of animal, plants and minerals using many techniques and
different instruments, this year's entries brought us images of
crystalline formations, fluorescent body parts, cellular structures and
more, valuable for both their beauty and insight. The lovely folks at
Nikon were kind enough to share some of their images here with us, be
sure to click the link above to see all the winners. (29 photos total)


Magnified
30 times, this is an image of a Hydropsyche angustipennis (caddisfly)
larva head made by Fabrice Parais, of DREAL de Basse-Normandie in Caen,
France. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World)




2

This 5th Place image of a Strelitzia reginae (bird of paradise) seed
magnified 10 times comes from Viktor Sykora of the Institute of
Pathophysiology, First Medical Faculty, Charles University in Prague,
Czech Republic. This image was made with a stereomicroscopy technique
called darkfield illumination. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


3

Magnified 400 times, this is a 2-Photon fluorescence image of glial
cells in the cerebellum. Glial cells provide support for the brain's
neurons. This image was made by Thomas Deerinck of the National Center
for Microscopy and Imaging Research, University of California, San
Diego. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


4

The turbinate eyes of male mayfly magnified 10 times. Image made by
Laurie Knight of Tonbridge, Kent, UK. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


5

Seen at a magnification of 63x, this is an image of recrystallized
sulfur made by Dr. Edward Leighman Gafford from Ventura, California.
(Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


6

Tiny bones are seen inside a the limbs of a developing
Eleutherodactylus coqui (frog), magnified 20 times. Image made by Dr.
Mike Klymkowsky of MCD Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder in
Boulder, Colorado. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


7

Two human cancer cells seen just before they divide into four cells,
viewed at 100x magnification. This image of Telophase HeLa (cancer)
cells expressing Aurora B-EGFP took 11th place and was made by Dr. Paul
D. Andrews of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. (Courtesy of
Nikon Small World) #


8

A single egg from a Hemiargus isola (Reakirt's blue butterfly) rests on
Mimosa strigillosa (pink powderpuff) buds, viewed at 6x magnification.
Image made by David Millard from Austin, Texas. (Courtesy of Nikon Small
World) #


9

This 15th place image is of crystals of divaricatic acid extracted from
Evernia divaricata (a lichen), which had been recrystallized from
acetone and imaged at 10x magnification in polarized light. Image made
by Dr. Ralf Wagner from Dusseldorf, Germany. (Courtesy of Nikon Small
World) #


10

Magnified 100 times, a Mirabilis jalapa (four o'clock flower) stigma
with pollen attached is seen. This 16th place image was made with
epifluorescence and 3D reconstruction by Dr. Robert Markus Institute of
Genetics, Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences in Szeged, Hungary. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


11

A radiolarian, a type of zooplankton, is seen magnified 250x in this
image made by Raymond Sloss of the Northamptonshire Natural History
Society in Northampton, UK. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


12

This 10th place winner is an image of crystallized soy sauce magnified
16 times, seen in reflected and transmitted light. Image made by Yanping
Wang of the Beijing Language and Culture University in Beijing, China.
(Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


13

James Nicholson of the NOAA NOS NCCOS Coral Culture and Collaborative
Research Facility in Charleston, South Carolina made this magnification
6x image of Fungia sp., or mushroom coral, showing natural auto
fluorescent proteins around its mouth. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


14

Magnified 250 times, this is a view of Scagelia sp. (red algae) made by
Dr. Arlene Wechezak from Anacortes, Washington, USA. (Courtesy of Nikon
Small World) #


15

Dr. Gregory Rouse took 12th Place with this darkfield image of a
juvenile bivalve mollusc, (Lima sp.), magnified 10 times. Dr. Rouse is
from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.
(Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


16

Pekka Honkakoski of Sonkajarvi, Finland brings us this image of a snow
crystal magnified 40 times. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


17

This image of a radial crystal spray of a phosphate mineral called
cacoxenite viewed at at 18x magnification took 8th Place. The image was
made by Honorio Cocera-La Parra of the Geology Museum, University of
Valencia in Benetusser, Valencia, Spain. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World)
#


18

Dr. Duane Harland took 9th place with his flourescent image of
Ctenocephalides canis (flea), viewed at 20x magnification. Dr. HArland
is with AgResearch Ltd. in Lincoln, New Zealand. (Courtesy of Nikon
Small World) #


19

This brightfield image shows part of the structure of living specimen
of Martensia sp. (red seaweed), viewed at 40x magnification. This 6th
Place image was made by Dr. John Huisman of Murdoch University, School
of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology in Murdoch, Australia.
(Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


20

Patterns of light are seen in soap film, magnified 150 times in this
18th place image by Gerd Guenther from Dusseldorf, Germany. (Courtesy of
Nikon Small World) #


21

Magnified 10 times, a view of Dolichopodid sp. (fly) eyes made by
Laurie Knight of Tonbridge, Kent, UK. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


22

Subcutaneous rat cells called fibroblasts on a silicon microactuator
magnified 20 times. Image made by Rafael Pennese of the Ecole
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland. (Courtesy
of Nikon Small World) #


23

A Bryozoa, a tiny aquatic filter-feeder is seen at 20x magnification.
Image made by Jocelyn Cheng of the Rochester Institute of Technology in
Rochester, New York. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


24

A close-in view of the basal leg segments of a Heteroscodra maculata
(ornamental baboon tarantula) magnified 40 times. Image made by Tyrel
Pinnegar from Nanaimo, Canada. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


25

This 3rd Place-winning entry is a view of the olfactory bulbs of a
Zebrafish, viewed at a magnification of 250x. Image made by Oliver
Braubach from the Department of Physiology & Biophysics, Dalhousie
University in Halifax, Canada. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


26

A polished piece of Mexican fire agate, viewed at a magnification of 4x,
imaged by Thomas Shearer of ColdStone Photography, LLC in Duluth,
Minnesota. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


27

Crystals of potassium ferricyanide are magnified 40 times in this image
made by Stefan Eberhard of the University of Georgia, Complex
Carbohydrate Research Center in Athens, Georgia. (Courtesy of Nikon
Small World) #


28

Magnified 40 times, this is a view of a bee's abdomen with grains of
pollen attached. Image made by Dr. Robert Markus of the Institute of
Genetics, Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences in Szeged, Hungary. (Courtesy of Nikon Small World) #


29

The embryo of an Echinaster brasiliensis (starfish), at its four cell
stage, seen magnified 60 times. Image made by Dr. Alvaro Migotto Centro
de Biologia Marinha, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Courtesy of
Nikon Small World) #