20 Award-Winning Microscope Images

20. Cat tooth in cross section

  Cat tooth in cross section, showing the membrane surrounding the outside of the tooth. Darkfield illumination. Image composed of 38 images. Tim Tiebout, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, USA. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

19. Detail of a pod of flowering legume Scorpius muricatus

    Detail of a pod of flowering legume Scorpius muricatus. Stereomicroscopy, darkfield illumination. Viktor Sýkora, Hyskov, Czech Republic. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

18. Eye of a damselfly

  Eye of a damselfly. The image reveals the regular, crystal-like hexagonal lattice of the eye’s elements. Projection of confocal stack, 20x objective. Igor Siwanowicz, Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology, Munich, Germany. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

17. Sporangium of the slime mold Physarum leucophaeum

  Sporangium of the slime mold Physarum leucophaeum. Fluorescence. Dalibor Matýsek, Mining University – Technical University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

16. Sporangium of the slime mold Craterium minutum

   Sporangium of the slime mold Craterium minutum. Fluorescence. Dalibor Matýsek, Mining University – Technical University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

15. Young sporangia of slime mold Arcyria stipata

   Young sporangia of slime mold Arcyria stipata. Fluorescence. Dalibor Matýsek, Mining University – Technical University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

14. Cross-section of bulrush (Juncus sp.)

  Cross-section of bulrush (Juncus sp.) leaf, autofluorescing red (chlorophyll on external side of leaf) and blue (vascular bundles). Diameter of the stalk is approximately 3mm. Jan Martinek, Ostrov, Czech Republic. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

13. Juvenile live bay scallop Argopecten irradians

 Juvenile live bay scallop Argopecten irradians. Through research, scientists are trying to help restore scallop populations in Rhode Island. Kathryn Markey, Aquatic Diagnostic Laboratory, Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI, USA. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

12. Protozoan Elphidium crispum

    Protozoan Elphidium crispum found growing on the Dorset coast of England. Brightfield. Michael Gibson, Northampton, UK. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

11. Two damsel bugs (Nabis sp.)

   Two damsel bugs (Nabis sp.) seemingly feeding on an aphid. Background is dried leaf of Norway maple (Acer platanoides). Focus stack of 120 images. Geir Drange, Asker, Norway. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

10. Tintinnid ciliate of the marine plankton, Petalotricha ampulla

    Tintinnid ciliate of the marine plankton, Petalotricha ampulla. This preserved specimen (Lugol’s fixed) was caught with its cilia fully extended. It is about 100 microns long. Differential interference contrast microscopy. John Dolan, Station Zoologique B.P. 28, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

9. Hydroid collected from kelp sample

  Hydroid collected from kelp sample. Epi-illumination, image stack. Mike Crutchley, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

8. Weevil Eupholus, dried thorax scales

   Weevil Eupholus, dried thorax scales, stack of 80 images. Darkfield. Douglas Clark, San Francisco, CA, USA. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

7. Trout alevin

  Trout alevin (alevin is the second of four stages in the life cycle of a trout, when eggs hatch and the tiny fish begin to emerge). Stereomicroscopy. Robert Berdan, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Honorable Mention, 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

6. Spherical colonies of Nostoc commune

    TENTH PLACE: Spherical colonies of Nostoc commune, a bluegreen alga. Darkfield illumination. Gerd Guenther, Duesseldorf, Germany. 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

5. Living diatom Mediopyxis helysia

   NINTH PLACE: Living diatom Mediopyxis helysia, showing the cell nuclei and golden chloroplasts, captured using brightfield microscopy. On top there is a bacteria colony in mucilage. Specimen is from the North Sea. Wolfgang Bettighofer, Kiel, Germany. 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

4. Fruitfly ovaries and uterus

  SEVENTH PLACE: Fruitfly ovaries and uterus. The muscular and neural structure of the Drosophila melanogaster reproductive system is shown using fluorescence microscopy. The background staining of the eggs in red is a specific function of the mutant fly strain that is pictured here. Gunnar Newquist, University of Nevada, Reno, USA. 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

3. Stink bug eggs

   SIXTH PLACE: Stink bug eggs. Stink bugs are agricultural pests that exist throughout the world. When disturbed, they emit a characteristic foul-smelling odor. Brightfield illumination. Haris Antonopoulos, Athens, Greece. 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

2. Live green brain coral (Goniastrea sp.), under water

   FIFTH PLACE: Live green brain coral (Goniastrea sp.), under water. One full polyp in the center is shown with four surrounding polyps. Walled corallites are purple. All color is the natural autofluorescence of the coral with the exception of the purple, which is near-violet LED illumination to highlight neartransparent tissue. James Nicholson, NOAA/NOS/NCCOS Center for Coastal Environmental Health & Biomolecular Research, Fort Johnson Marine Lab, Charleston, SC, USA. 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition

1. Rotifer Floscularia ringens feeding

   FIRST PLACE: Rotifer Floscularia ringens feeding. Its rapidly beating cilia (hair-like structures) bring water that contains food to the rotifer. The “wheel animacules” were first described by Leeuwenhoek (ca.1702); when their cilia beat, they look like they have two wheels spinning on top. They live in reddish-brown tubes made of spherical “bricks.” Differential interference contrast microscopy. Charles Krebs, Issaquah, WA, USA. 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition