These incredible microscope photos reveal a bizarre universe beyond our reach

honey bee eye pollen nikon small world
Method: Reflected Light 120x Ralph Claus Grimm/Nikon Small World

The world we see every day is just one view of life on Earth.

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But microscope photography — which can record details in objects that no human eye can — shows a universe of high-resolution bee stingers, tadpole brains, moth wings, and other creepy-crawly delights.

The 2015 Nikon Small World competition collects the finest microscope photos from around the world. 

Nikon will release the winners on October 14. Until then, browse the finalists below.

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Rove beetle head

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Method: Confocal 10x Joseph Parker/Nikon Small World

Juvenile starfish

juvenile starfish nikon small world
Method: Confocal 10x Nikon Small World
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Intake of a humped bladderwort, a freshwater carnivorous plant

Intake of a humped bladderwort nikon small world
Method: Confocal 100x Igor Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World

Adult marine worm

Nikon Small World Crutchley_28400_1
Method: Macroscopy 30x​ Nikon Small World
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Tentacles of a carnivorous plant

carnivorous plant tentacles
Method: Image Stacking 20x Nikon

Mouse neurons in culture

Nikon Small World Colombo_28050_1
Method: Confocal 10x Nikon Small World
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Torn photographic film (Fujifilm)

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Method: Reflected Light 10x Teresa Zgoda/Nikon Small World

Numerical traces on a Blu-ray disc

Nikon Small World Brizzi_28352_1
Method: Fiber Optic Illumination 10 0x Nikon Small World
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The rad ula or feeding structure of a limpet (an aquatic snail)

Nikon Small World Crutchley_28400_2
Method: Darkfield Epi. 40x Nikon Small World

Anther of a flowering Arabidopsis thaliana plant

Anther of a flowering Arabidopsis thaliana plant nikon small world
Method: Confocal 20x Heiti Paves/Nikon Small World
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Blood vessels and neural cells in a mouse retina

Nikon Small World Deerinck_28592_2
Method: Confocal 200x Nikon Small World

Root tip of a dicot plant

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Method: Differential Interference Contrast 25.5x David Spears/Nikon Small World
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Red fossil coral slab

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Method: Reflected Light 20x Norm Barker/Nikon Small World

Degenerating LCD screen liquid

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Method: Polarized Light 100x Christian Bohley
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Jewel beetle hairs

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Method: Macroscopy, Image Stacking 32x Luca Toledano/Nikon Small World

Mouse bicep muscle cross-section

Nikon Small World Bergmeister_27656_1
Method: Fluorescence -immunohistochemistry 20x Dr. Konstantin Bergmeister
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Mouth parts of a blowfly

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Method: Brightfield 750x Raymond Morrison Sloss/Nikon Small World

Crystallized flame retardant

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Method: Polarized Light, Retardation Control 25x Yoji Tanaka/Nikon Small World
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Living rotifer

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Method: Darkfield 400x Bernd Walz/Nikon Small World

Antenna of a male moth

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Method: Confocal 100x Igor Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World
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Australian grass seed

Australian grass seed
Method: Darkfield 5x Viktor Sykora/Nikon Small World

African clawed toad tadpole's head

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Method: Confocal 10x Helen Rankin/Nikon Small World
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Vilene fabric with drops of glue

Nikon Small World Gunther_28866_1
Method: Brightfield, Fluorescence 80x Dr. Marta Guervos

Head of a long-jawed spider

Nikon Small World Drange_28358_1
Method: Reflected Light 10x Geir Drange
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Light emitted by a single cell over time

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The single photon emission pattern of a cell in time Rebecca Saleeb, Robert Henderson & Paul Dalgarno/Nikon Small World

Vascular bundles of papyrus plant

Nikon Small World Maitland_28279_3.JPG
Method: Differential Interference Contrast 200x Dr. David Maitland
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Garnet stone with magnetite inclusions

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Method: Polarized Light 15x Aaron Palke/Nikon Small World

Moth wing scales

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Method: Image Stacking 300x Donald Parsons/Nikon Small World
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Water flea

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Method: Fluorescence 200x Jacek Myslowski/Nikon Small World

Underside of a frog tadpole

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Method: Confocal 10x Katherine Pfister/Nikon Small World
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Human stem cells that have morphed into neurons

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Method: Fluorescence 20x Ariadna Recasens/Nikon Small World

Feeding rotifers

feeding rotifers nikon small world
Method: Brightfield 100x Charles B. Krebs
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Hairyback worm (bottom) next to algae (top right)

Hairyback worm next to algae
Method: Differential Interference Contrast 400x Roland Gross

Spore capsule of a moss

Nikon Small World Koskinen_28254_1
Method: Reflected Light Henri Koskinen
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Crystalized acne medication

Nikon Small World Hart_28311_1
Method: Polarized Light 33x Dr. John Hart

Cross-section of a fossilized bone from a prehistoric horse

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Method: Polarized Light 100x Dr. Santiago Gomez
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Clam shrimp

clam shrimp nikon small world
Method: Darkfield, Focus Stacking 25x Ian Gardiner/Nikon Small World

Mouse colon colonized with microbes from inside a human

mouse colon colonized with human microbiota nikon small world
Method: Confocal 63x Kristen Earle, Gabriel Billings, KC Huang & Justin Sonnenburg
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Mitochondria in a live cancer cell

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Method: 3D Structured Illumination Microscopy 63x Dr. Reto Paul Fiolka

Cross-section of a leaf on a water lily bud

Nikon Small World Maitland_28279_2.JPG
Method: Brightfield 12.5x Dr. David Maitland
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Rat cerebellum cross-section

Nikon Small World Deerinck_28592_1
Method: Confocal 200x Nikon Small World

Vampire moth mouthparts, used to feed on fruit and mammals

Nikon Small World Lehnert_28188_1
Method: Confocal 10x Dr. Matthew S. Lehnert
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Larva of a horseshoe worm

Nikon Small World Kirby_27924_1
Method: Darkfield 450x Dr. Richard R. Kirby

Cow lung artery cell, with structural fibers (black), mitochondria (red), and DNA (blue)

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Method: 3D-Structured Illumination Microscopy 60x Dr. Talley J. Lambert
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Mouse tongue cross section

Nikon Small World Kofron_27326
Method: Confocal 60x Dr. Matthew Kofron & Tayaramma Thatava

Close-up of ancient Chinese pottery

Nikon Small World Lu_27995_1
Method: Macroscopy 4x Yvonne (Yi-Chieh) Lu
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A black witch-hazel leaf producing crystals to defend against hungry animals

A black witch-hazel leaf producing crystals nikon small world
Method: Differential Interference Contrast 100x Dr. David Maitland

A micro-engraving on a glass microscope slide created in the year 1880

Nikon Small World Lynk_28112_1
Method: Darkfield 100x Howard Lynk
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Ostrich fern cross section

Nikon Small World Mikhaltsov_28121_1.JPG
Method: Brightfield 250x Anatoly Mikhaltsov

Bacterial DNA and a chemical probe binding inside bacteria, just following division

Nikon Small World Markus_28643_2
Method: DNA-YOYO-1: green pixels for high res & purple for wide field; Cy5-probe: yellow pixels for high res & orange for wide field Dr. Robert Markus & Dr. Jafar Mahdavi
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Gold and titanium electrodes covered by graphene sheet

Nikon Small World Matkovic_28084_1
Method: Brightfield 500x Dr. Aleksandar Matkovic

Foraminifera shells from the sea

Nikon Small World Maolagain_28137_1
Method: Reflected Light 40x Caoimhghin Ó Maolagáin
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Cow artery cells

Nikon Small World Markus_28643_1
Method: Structured Illumination Microscopy 1,100x Dr. Robert Markus

Buoyancy organs of a phantom midge larva

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Method: Polarized Light 125x David Linstead/Nikon Small World
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Eye of a honey bee covered in dandelion pollen

honey bee eye pollen nikon small world
Method: Reflected Light 120x Ralph Claus Grimm/Nikon Small World

Stinger of a honey bee

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Method: Confocal 20x Harry Leung/Nikon Small World
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Colony of single-celled organisms

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Method: Differential Interference Contrast 160x Arturo Agostino/Nikon Small World

Nostoc — a blue-green algae — showing its chlorophyll organelles (red)

Anamthawat Jonsson_28039_1
Method: Fluorescence 400x Kesara Anamthawat-Jonsson, Andrey N. Gagunashvili, and Ólafur S. Andrésson/Nikon Small World
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A 10.5-day-old muse embryo

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Method: Confocal 11x Maria Boulina, Akira Chiba, and Hasitha Samarajeewa/Nikon Small World

Individually colored neurons in a live fruit fly larva

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Method: Fluorescence, Confocal /Nikon Small World
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Suction cups on a diving beetle foreleg

Suction cups on the diving beetle foreleg nikon small world
Method: Image Stacking, Photo-merge 50x Giorgio Seano and Rakesh K. Jain/Nikon Small World

Skin of a sea urchin

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Method: Polarized Light 63x Richard Howey/Nikon Small World
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Pollen grains of a peace lily

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Method: Confocal 63x Marta Guervos/Nikon Small World

Human neural stem cells

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Method: Fluorescence 200x Cynthia Levinthal/Nikon Small World
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Fern sorus at varying stages of maturity

fern sorus at varying stages of maturity nikon small world
Method: Fluorescence, Image Stacking 20x Rogelio Moreno Gill/Nikon Small World

Mites on insect pupa

Moreno Gill_27640_2
Method: Darkfield, Image Stacking 20x Rogelio Moreno Gill/Nikon Small World
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A 3-D reconstruction of brown fat in a mouse

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Method: Third Harmonic Generation Microscopy 40x Daniela Malide/Nikon Small World

Lab-grown bud of a human mammary gland

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Method: Confocal 100x Daniel H. Miller and Ethan S. Sokol/Nikon Small World
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Shells from a deep-sea dredge in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean

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Stereomicroscopy 4x Robert B. Simmons/Nikon Small World

Nerves and blood vessels in a mouse ear skin

Nerves and blood vessels in a mouse ear skin nikon small world
Method: Confocal 10x Tomoko Yamazaki/Nikon Small World
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Cross section of fairburn agate from the Black Hills of South Dakota

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Method: Fiber Optic Illumination 63x Douglas Moore/Nikon Small World

Plastic pieces of a drifting fishing net

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Method: Stereomicroscopy 5x Robert B. Simmons/Nikon Small Wold
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Zinc-stressed bacteria; red cells are healthy, yellow are impaired, and green are dead

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Method: Fluorescence 600x Robert Newby/Nikon Small World

DNA packaged inside a cell nucleus

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Method: Super-Resolution Microscope Kirti Prakash/Nikon Small World
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Live imaging of blood vessels (red) in a mouse brain with a tumor (yellow/green)

Live imaging of blood vessels in a mouse brain with a glioblastoma tumor nikon small world
Method: Optical Frequency Domain Imaging System /Nikon Small World

Young buds of a flowering plant

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Method: Confocal 40x Nathanael Prunet/Nikon Small World
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A 3-day-old peanut worm larva (yellow: cilia; blue: DNA; red: serotonin in the nervous system)

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Method: Confocal 40x Michael J. Boyle/Nikon Small World

Power button of a mobile phone collected from the ocean bottom, which includes bryozoan crust (right) and marine worm tube (left)

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Method: Stereomicroscopy 4x Robert B. Simmons/Nikon Small Wold
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Liquid crystal

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Method: Polarized Light 20x Giuliano Zanchetta/Nikon Small World

A liverwort plant's water sacs, which are often home to tiny aquatic animals called rotifers

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Method: Brightfield at 100x Susan Tremblay/Nikon Small World
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Internal structures of a fungus mold

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Method: Fluorescence 63x Samantha Roberts and Amy Gladfelter/Nikon Small World

Nanoparticles suspended in water between two electrodes

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Method: Brightfield 40x Jie Zh Jie Zhang/Nikon Small World
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Mouse embryo cells

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Method: Confocal Live-Cell Imaging 100x Tetsuaki Miyake/Nikon Small World

The mouth of a stentor, a filter-feeding microbial animal

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Method: Brightfield 40x Rogelio Moreno Gill/Nikon Small World
Photos Animals
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