Photomicrography: Beauty We Never See

Laurie says:

I’ve always loved photomicrography images. The best of them are exquisite images of an unseen world that surrounds us.

Nikon has a Small World contest every year for the best of these images.  Celebrating its 40th year, the contest invites photographers and scientists to submit images of all things visible under a microscope.

There are 100 amazing images on the site. The five below are an almost random choice.

..

 

Entry26124_Marco_DalMaschio_brain-slice

Dr. Marco Dal Maschio
Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology
Munich, Germany
Subject Matter:
Sagittal brain slice showing cell nuclei (cyan) and Purkinje cells (red) expressing EGFP

..

Entry27083_Jose_Almodovar_acaro-mite

José R. Almodóvar
University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Mayaguez Campus
Biology Department
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, USA
Subject Matter:
Mite

..

Entry26821_Igor_Siwanowicz_shrimp_2

Dr. Igor Robert Siwanowicz
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
Janelia Farm Research Campus
Ashburn, Virginia, USA
Subject Matter:
Appendages of a common brine shrimp

..

Entry26682_Margaret_Oechsli_phosphofructokinase

Dr. Margaret Oechsli
Nature, Interrupted
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Subject Matter:
Phosphofructokinas

..

Entry26670_Magdalena_Turzanska_nowellia-curvifolia_3

Magdalena Turzańska
University of Wroclaw
Institute of Experimental Biology
 Wroclaw, Poland
Subject Matter:
Nowellia curvifolia (leafy liverwort) gametophyte

 

These are just a taste of the exhibition.  It’s worth taking some time to contemplate a kind of beauty that is rarely seen.