A man walks in the street at the start of the new curfew to counter the COVID-19 in the center of Lyon, central France, Saturday, January 16, 2021. All of France will be under a stricter curfew starting Saturday at 6 p.m. for at least 15 days to fight the spread of the coronavirus. (Photo by Laurent Cipriani/AP Photo)

An election poster calling for the legalisation of marijuana and featuring internet meme “Grumpy Cat” hangs outside the Pirate Party's campaign headquarters in Berlin on August 16, 2013. The Pirates, who to everyone's surprise were elected into Berlin's regional parliament in September 2011, are trying to capitalise on their recent electoral gains in upcoming parliamentary elections, running on a platform of transparency in government. Germany goes to the polls on September 22, 2013. Placard reads: “Hurry up, my dope is everything”. (Photo by John Macdougall/AFP Photo)

The lava of the Cumbre Vieja volcano reaches the door of a tattoo shop in La Laguna neighborhood, on the Canary Island of La Palma, Spain, December 14, 2021. (Photo by Borja Suarez/Reuters)

Actor Woody Harrelson and actress Sofia Vergara onstage during the 69th annual Golden Globe Award Nominations announcements at The Beverly Hilton hotel on December 15, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

A Russian police officer detains a teenager during rally protesting retirement age hikes in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, September 9, 2018. A government plan to increase the age for collecting state pensions brought protests across Russia's 11 time zones on Sunday even though the opposition leader who called them was in jail. Nearly 300 people were reported arrested. (Photo by Roman Pimenov/Interpress photo via 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)

Third place: the rear leg, claw and respiratory trachea of a louse (Haematopinus suis). (Photo by Frank Reiser/Nassau Community College/Nikon Small World Photomicrography 2021)

A dune buggy driver trains before competing in a sand dune drag racing event on January 8, 2016, as part of the Liwa 2016 Moreeb Dune Festival in the Liwa desert, some 250 kilometres southwest of Abu Dhabi. The festival, which attracts participants from around the Gulf region, includes a variety of races (cars, bikes, falcons, camels and horses) or other activities aimed at promoting the country's folklore. (Photo by Karim Sahib/AFP Photo)