[Trending] 2017 Nikon Macro Photo Contest Winners Show The World Like You’ve Never Seen Before

Sometimes bigger is better, but other times it’s all about the details, and as you can see from the winners of Nikon’s 2017 Small World Photomicrography competition, it doesn’t get more detailed than this.

The competition, which is now in its 43rd year, attracts doctors, scientists, and macro photography enthusiasts from all over the world, and over 2000 people from 88 countries submitted their work for consideration this year. For those of you who don’t know, photomicrography is the practise of taking a photograph through a microscope or similar magnifying device in order to capture the intricate details of things invisible to the human eye.

This year’s top prize went to researchers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, BioImaging Facility & Department of Cell Biology, who captured immortalised human skin cells expressing fluorescently tagged keratin. Scroll down to see the rest of the winners. The categories are divided into winners, honorable mentions, and images of distinction, and you can find the full list on the Nikon Small World website.

More info: Nikon Small World (h/t: mymodernmet)

Immortalized human skin cells expressing fluorescently tagged keratin, Amsterdam, 1st place

Image credits: Dr. Bram van den Broek, Andriy Volkov, Dr. Kees Jalink, Dr. Reinhard Windoffer & Dr. Nicole Schwarz

Senecio vulgaris seed head, Israel, 2nd place

Image credits: Dr. Havi Sarfaty

Living Volvox algae releasing its daughter colonies, Nantes, 3 rd place

Image credits: Jean-Marc Babalian

Taenia solium (tapeworm) everted scolex, New York, 4th place

Image credits: Teresa Zgoda

Mold on a tomato, Netanya, 5th place

Image credits: Dean Lerman

Lily pollen, Southampton, 6th place

Image credits: Dr. David A. Johnston

Individually labeled axons in an embryonic chick ciliary ganglion, Nagoya, 7th place

Image credits: Dr. Ryo Egawa

Newborn rat cochlea with sensory hair cells (green) and spiral ganglion neurons (red), Bern, 8th place

Image credits: Dr. Michael Perny

Growing cartilage-like tissue in the lab using bone stem cells (collagen fibers in green and fat deposits in red), Southampton, 9th place

Image credits: Catarina Moura, Dr. Sumeet Mahajan, Dr. Richard Oreffo & Dr. Rahul Tare

Phyllobius roboretanus (weevil), Keszthely, 10th place

Image credits: Dr. Csaba Pintér

Plastic fracturing on credit card hologram, Texas, 11th place

Image credits: Steven Simon

Opiliones (daddy longlegs) eye, Washington, 12th place

Image credits: Charles B. Krebs

Exaerete frontalis (orchid cuckoo bee) from the collections of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Ramsbury, 13th place

Image credits: Levon Biss

Common Mestra butterfly (Mestra amymone) eggs, laid on a leaf of Tragia sp. (Noseburn plant), Texas, 14th place

Image credits: David Millard

3rd trimester fetus of Megachiroptera (fruit bat), Colorado, 15th place

Image credits: Dr. Rick Adams

Parus major (titmouse) down feather, Podlaskie, 16th place

Image credits: Marek Miś

Dyed human hair, Steinberg, 17th place

Image credits: Harald K. Andersen

Synapta (sea-cucumber) skin, Le Mans, 18th place

Image credits: Christian Gautier

Embryonic body wall from a developing Mus musculus, Tennessee, 19th place

Image credits: Dr. Dylan Burnette

Aspergillus flavus (fungus) and yeast colony from soil, New York, 20th place

Image credits: Tracy Scott

Jumping spider, Istanbul, honorable mention

Image credits: Emre Can Alagöz

Dye-injected hippocampal interneuron in mouse brain section, Budapest, honorable mention

Ciliated respiratory epithelial cells (yellow) and mucus producing goblet cells (cyan), containing tight junctions (red) and nuclei (blue), Rotterdam, honorable mention

Image credits: Alwin de Jong, Dr. G.J. Kremers & Dr. R.L. de Swart

Neurons derived from a Parkinson patient, Seongnam, honorable mention

Image credits: Dr. Regis Grailhe, Nasia Antoniou & Dr. Rebecca Matsas

Ganglion cells expressing fluorescent proteins in a mouse retina, California, honorable mention

Image credits: Dr. Keunyoung Kim

Traxacum officinale (dandelion) cross section showing curved stigma with pollen, Nottingham, honorable mention

Image credits: Dr. Robert Markus

Broccoli, Washington, honorable mention

Image credits: Dr. Nathan Myhrvold

Human tongue blood vessels injected with lead chromate, New York, honorable mention

Image credits: Frank Reiser

Liquid crystal, Colorado, honorable mention

Image credits: Michael Tuchband

Warp knitted curtain fabric, Zwijnaarde, honorable mention

Image credits: Marc Van Hove

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