Dutch artist Maxim Gazendam works on his sand sculpture during the third edition of the European Championship Sand Sculpting 2014 in Zandvoort aan Zee, The Netherlands, 08 August 2014. Eight sculptors from different European countries will each create an impressive sculpture on the main theme “Music and Dance”. (Photo by Remko De Waal/EPA)

Ethnic Miao men wearing traditional masks smear dust on a woman's face to wish her good luck during local celebration event for Lunar New Year in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, February 16, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Some Iraqi candidates for Miss Iraq beauty contest pose in front of the Ishtar Gate at the ancient archaeological site of Babylon, outside the modern city of Hilla, south of the capital Baghdad on December 17, 2015. The beauty contest, which is the first one in more than 40 years, aims to boost tourism in the city and will take place on December 19, 2015. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)

Naki'o, a mixed-breed dog with four prosthetic devices, goes for a run in Colorado Springs April 12, 2013. Naki'o lost all four feet to frostbite when he was abandoned as a puppy in a foreclosed home. (Photo by Rick Wilking/Reuters)

The student Patricia Vasconcellos de Almeida, 22, tried to kiss one of the military police who formed a cordon ostensibly in front of the building Fetranspor (Federation of Transport Companies), in Rio de Janeiro, on June 27, 2013. (Photo by Zulmair Rocha/UOL)

A pro-democracy demonstrator fights with a Soviet soldier on top of a tank parked in front of the Russian Federation building on August 19, 1991, after a coup toppled Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The same day, thousands in Moscow, Leningrad, and other cities answered Russian Republic President Boris Yeltsin's call to raise barricades against tanks and troops. (Dima Tanin/AFP/Getty Images)

“Microscope images forge an extraordinary bond between science and art, said Hidenao Tsuchiya, Olympus America's Vice President and General Manager for the Scientific Equipment Group. We founded this competition to focus on the fascinating stories coming out of today's life science research laboratories. The thousands of images that people have shared with the competition over the years reflect some of the most exciting work going on in research today – work that can help shed light on the living universe and ultimately save lives. We look at BioScapes and these beautiful images as sources of education and inspiration to us and the world”. – OlympusBioScapes

Photo: Pretarsus of the third leg of a female drone fly (Eristalis tenax), ventral view, by Dr. Jan Michels, Institute of Zoology, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany. (Photo by Olympus BioScapes)

A white whale wears a wreath at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, Japan, on October 3, 2012. (Photo by Associated Press)