IT'S A SMALL WORLD

They're the stuff nightmares are made of and the most awe-inspiring things you'll ever see this year's photomicrography competition is nothing short of astonishing

- SANDY COOK

IT’S the place where art and science collide, where the jaw-dropping intricacy of nature is laid bare at a cellular level for us to stare at in wonder and awe. 

Capturing these astonishing images is modern microscope photography, which uses highly specialised camera systems to provide glimpses into a rarefied world beyond human vision. And this year’s crop of winners from the 48th Annual Nikon Small World photomicrography competition has yielded a smorgasbord of visual delights and surprises, from ants to asparagus, tongues to dental drill bits. 

More than 1 300 entries were received from 72 countries. Here’s a look at some of the winning and commended images.

GETTING A GRIP 

This winning photograph of the embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko highlights the nerves in cyan (the blue colour) and the bones, tendons, ligaments, skin and blood cells in warmer colours.  Photographer Grigorii Timin of Switzerland painstakingly used image-stitching and high-resolution microscopy to merge hundreds of tiles together to create the final fluorescent image. 

“This embryonic hand is about 3mm in length,” Timin says. “The scan consists of 300 tiles and approximately 200GB of data.” 

The result: an ethereal rendition of the beauty and complexity of an everyday creature.    

FUR REAL