Wefa, 13, a female Western lowland gorilla, looks inside a Christmas box that contained food as a gift, after a caretaker dressed up as Santa Claus placed it in the enclosure of the family of gorillas, at Bioparc Fuengirola, in Fuengirola, Spain, on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Jon Nazca/Reuters)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin feeds a deer on the podium after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, November 15, 2025. Photo by Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva via Reuters)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)

US actress, model and transgender activist Leyna Bloom poses during a photocall for the film “Port Authority” at the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 19, 2019. (Photo by Stephane Mahe/Reuters)

Caio Souza of Team Brazil competes on vault during Men's Qualification on day one of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on July 24, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

Australia's Jessica Lim competes in the women's nangun final during the 13th World Wushu Championship 2015 at Istora Senayan stadium in Jakarta, November 17, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Beawiharta)

Models wait backstage ahead of the Carolina Herrera Fall/Winter 2023 collection show during the New York Fashion Week in New York City, U.S., February 13, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

A skater jumps through a ring of fire at the La Bodega Skate facilities as part of one of the Vans contests to showcase the top street skaters in Europe on September 16, 2023 in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. (Photo by Juan Carlos Toro/Getty Images)