The world, at large: 2013's best microscope shots The winning photos from the annual Olympus BioScapes contest offer a window on the unseen world -- an astonishing view of life at the microscopic level. And the winners are... 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 2013-olympus-bioscapes First Prize 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 2013-1-siwanowicz-carnivorous-bladderwort Second Prize 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 2013-2-hockman-bat-embryo-2 Third Prize 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. 2013-3-siwanowicz-desmids-mandala Fourth Prize Stained transverse section of a lily flower bud. Spike Walker / Olympus BioScapes 2013-4-walker-lily-bud-large-file Fifth Prize Mouse embryonic cells showing actin filaments (red) and DNA (blue). The image also shows the insides of mitochondria, which were visualized by expressing a green fluorescent protein. Dylan Burnette / Olympus BioScapes 2013-5-burnette-mouse-fibroblasts-large-file Honorable Mention An anemone flower. 2013-hm-khodaverdi-anemone-flower Long legged fly. Laurie Knight / Olympus BioScapes 2013-hm-knight-long-legged-fly Proboscis of a blowfly. Michael Gibson / Olympus BioScapes 2013-hm-gibson-1-blowfly-proboscis 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 2013-hm-burns-large-file-vascular-niche-mouse-brain 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 2013-hm-barros-mouse-cereb-cortex 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 2013-hm-drange-myrmica-ant-pupae-2