An alligator and his reflection seen in the Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach, Florida on May 2, 2024. The wetlands attract nature lovers and wildlife photographers and are home to more than 140 bird species and a variety of other wildlife. (Photo by Ronen Tivony/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A man falls from his motorcycle after hitting a water buffalo on his way to work outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, September 6, 2024. Cambodian animal owners have been warned to keep their animals, which often cause traffic accidents, leashed and could face prison time if relatives of those who die or are injured in such accidents initiate legal proceedings. (Photo by Heng Sinith/AP Photo)

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)

Camila Hormazabal, a 24-year-old sеx worker, meets with a virtual customer in Concepcion, Chile on April 7, 2020. Hormazabal now offers sеxual services online after the nightclub where she had worked was closed due to the outbreak. With no way to pay her bills, Hormazabal switched to video calls conducted from her high-rise apartment bedroom, and asked her regulars to meet her online. She is one of the thousands of sеx workers worldwide left in a precarious position after the very intimacy that defines their work was thwarted by social distancing measures. (Photo by Juan Gonzalez/Reuters)

Natural world and wildlife shortlist. Lop Buri in Thailand is home to hundreds of macaques, which local residents consider to be disciples of the Hindu god Hanuman. While some people love them, others fear or even hate them. Despite the inconvenience they often cause, the macaques are generally respected and considered sacred. (Photo by Joan de la Malla/Sony World Photography Awards)

A dog jumps into the air to catch a ball along the beach near the County Kerry village of Rossbeigh, Ireland, February 4, 2018. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

A woman directs traffic in the pouring rain in Pyongyang, North Korea on May 3, 2016. The city is preparing for the Workers' Party Congress starting on May 6th. It will be the first time since 1980 that the ruling party has convened. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

A mouse rides on the back of a frog in floodwaters in the northern Indian city Lucknow June 30, 2006. (Photo by Pawan Kumar/Reuters)