Top 20 Microscope Photos of the Year

The subject of this year’s top microscope photo in the 36th annual Nikon Small World competition looks more like neon suspension bridges or sailboats than what it really is: mosquito heart muscle magnified 100 times.

The image, which used fluorescence technology to highlight different parts of the specimen, stood out as one of the most beautiful of the entries. And it also had scientific merit as part of the photographer’s research on how mosquitoes carry and spread disease.

“Mosquitoes remain one of the greatest scourges of mankind,” said winner Jonas King of Vanderbilt University in a press release Oct. 13.  “And this image of the mosquito heart helps us understand how they transport nutrients, hormones, and even pathogens such as malaria throughout their bodies.”

Having been one of the judges of the Nikon Small World competition this year, I know how many truly stunning contenders there were. Selecting the best 20 was quite a challenge. The judges, which included both journalists and scientists, spent an entire day slowly whittling the record 2,200 images down to the best. I am definitely biased, but I think the group we ended up with is the best the contest has ever seen.

The other winning photomicrographs we chose included subjects such as a wasp’s nest, the olfactory bulbs of zebra fish, seaweed, soy sauce, cancer cells, sulfur and a rat retina. As you look through them here, see if you can guess what they are before you read the captions.

The top photos were displayed online prior to the announcement today of how they placed so that the public could vote on them. Your top choice was the 40 times magnified image of a female black bean aphid with babies on board (below) by Tomas Cabello of the Universidad of Almería in Spain.