The world, at large: 2013's best microscope shots
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}What’s cooler than the intersection of awesome art and serious? By merging the art of photography and the science of life seen through the Microscope, Olympus has been highlighting the amazing for the past decade. Learn more at olympusbioscapes.com. (Masoumeh "Sahar" Khodaverdi / Olympus BioScapes)
Open trap of aquatic carnivorous plant, humped bladderwort (Utricularia gibba). The floating plant digests microinvertebrates that are sucked into its trap a millisecond after they touch its trigger hairs (hair bases are seen in the center of the dome-shaped entrance). The red in the image comes from chlorophyll's innate fluorescence. (Igor Siwanowicz / Olympus BioScapes)
A lateral view of a black mastiff bat embryo (Molossus rufus), at the "Peek-a-boo" stage when its wings have grown to cover its eyes. As development progresses, their fingers grow longer and form the maneuverable struts of their wings, supporting the membrane between their fingers. (Dorit Hockman / Olympus BioScapes)
A composite image showing a collection of single-cell fresh water algae, called desmids. Desmids exhibit a vast diversity of sizes from 10 microns or smaller to 0.3mm or more. The red in the image comes from the innate fluorescence of chlorophyll. (Igor Siwanowicz / Olympus BioScapes)
Long legged fly. (Laurie Knight / Olympus BioScapes)
Proboscis of a blowfly. (Michael Gibson / Olympus BioScapes)
The subventricular zone, the largest region of the mouse brain where new neurons are born. The blood vessels here are important in regulating the behavior of neural stem cells, providing a vascular niche for neurogenesis. (Terry Burns / Olympus BioScapes)
Adult mouse cerebral cortex. Layer V neurons are shown in red, their nuclei in green. Nuclei of cells from other cortical layers are labeled in blue. (Claudia Barros / Olympus BioScapes)
Ant pupae in different stages (genus Myrmica). The two rightmostpupae both have a parasitic mite on the antenna. The specimenshave been frozen before staging. Reflected light, stacked images.Geir Drange, Asker, Norway. Honorable Mention, 2013 OlympusBioScapes (Geir Drange / Olympus BioScapes)