Twin brothers Keith (L) and Deano Stapleton (R) interact with one another as people gather to witness the winter solstice on December 21, 2022 in Newgrange, Ireland. Crowds are gathering at Newgrange in Co Meath, this morning for the winter solstice – the astronomical phenomenon that marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Newgrange is a Stone Age (Neolithic) monument in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, it is the jewel in the crown of Ireland's Ancient East and was constructed approximately 5,200 years ago (3,200 B.C.) which makes it older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

A man poses as his acquaintance takes pictures on a street in the town of Vyborg, Russia on January 28, 2024. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)

A model dressed in clothes made of waste products such as plastic bags, plaster nets, rope, paper and calendar leaves poses for a photo at a recycling facility in Diyarbakir, Turkiye on March 25, 2024. (Photo by Bestami Bodruk/Anadolu via Getty Images)

An activist with a painted face symbolizing the count of days spent in captivity attends the Free Azov rally in support of the captured defenders of Mariupol on April 21, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The participants came out to remind about the Ukrainian soldiers who have been held in Russian captivity for more than two years. (Photo by Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

A drone view of fishermen unloading fish caught in a net during the sardine run in Scottburgh, South Africa, on June 12, 2024. (Photo by Rogan Ward/Reuters)

People take part in the Festival of Colors at Asanbai Park in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 27 May 2023. The festival brings together young people sprinkling each other with colored powder to pay homage to India's traditional Holi festival. (Photo by Igor Kovalenko/EPA/EFE)

A male Sumatran elephant calf named Rocky Balboa, born on May 25, 2024, stands next to its mother, a 40-year-old elephant named Lembang, at the Surabaya Zoo during the introduction of the 3-month-old calf to the public in Surabaya on August 31, 2024. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)

“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)