Nikon Small World competition = Photomicrography

Today’s word of the day is ‘Photomicrography’.

Which is exactly what it sounds like… pictures taken with microscopes.

The Nikon Small World competition is put on by Nikon Instruments, and it exists to shed a light on this little known and often over looked sub-genre of photography.

And just so you know, and to build a little excitement… the grand finale of this picture spread is cow poop. There ya go Whitehall.

Four-day-old zebrafish embryo | Photo credit: Dr. Oscar Ruiz

Polished slab of Teepee Canyon agate | Photo credit: Douglas L. Moore

Culture of neurons (stained green) derived from human skin cells, and Schwann cells, a second type of brain cell (stained red) | Photo credit: Rebecca Nutbrown

Butterfly proboscis | Photo credit: Jochen Schroeder

Front foot (tarsus) of a male diving beetle | Photo credit: Dr. Igor Siwanowicz

Air bubbles formed from melted ascorbic acid crystals | Photo credit: Marek Mis

Leaves of Selaginella (lesser club moss) | Photo credit: Dr. David Maitland

Wildflower stamens | Photo credit: Samuel Silberman

Espresso coffee crystals | Photo credit: Vin Kitayama and Sanae Kitayama

Frontonia (showing ingested food, cilia, mouth and trichocysts) | Photo credit: Rogelio Moreno Gill

Scales of a butterfly wing underside (Vanessa atalanta) | Photo credit: Francis Sneyers

Human HeLa cell undergoing cell division | Photo credit: Dr. Dylan Burnette

Poison fangs of a centipede | Photo credit: Walter Piorkowski

Mouse retinal ganglion cells | Photo credit: Dr. Keunyoung Kim

Head section of an orange ladybird | Photo credit: Geir Drange

65 fossil Radiolarians (zooplankton) carefully arranged by hand in Victorian style | Photo credit: Stefano Barone

Slime mold (Mixomicete) | Photo credit: Jose Almodovar

Parts of wing-cover (elytron), abdominal segments and hind leg of a broad-shouldered leaf beetle | Photo credit: Pia Scanlon

Human neural rosette primordial brain cells, differentiated from embryonic stem cells | Photo credit: Dr. Gist F. Croft, Lauren Pietilla, Stephanie Tse, Dr. Szilvia Galgoczi, Maria Fenner, Dr. Ali H. Brivanlou

And as promised…

drum roll please…

I did this for you… and SCIENCE!

Cow dung | Photo credit: Michael Crutchley