Portuguese driver Ricardo Poremi and co-driver Jorge Monteiro ride during a session on the eve of technical checkup in Jeddah, on December 31, 2020 ahead of the 2021 Dakar Rally, which this year will take place in Saudi Arabia from January 3 to 15, 2021. (Photo by Franck Fife/AFP Photo)

Jeffrey Shiau, 35, a volunteer from the crowd, spits water into the mouth of Sam Kaufman, 27, a performer from the Human Fountains, during a reopening party held as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions are gradually lifted in Los Angeles, California, U.S. June 15, 2021. (Photo by Cheney Orr/Reuters)

Kate Applepie outside the Batsheva presentation during New York Fashion Week (NYFW) in New York, New York on September 8, 2024. (Photo by Sara Konradi for The Washington Post)

People exercise in Primrose Hill in London, Britain, 20 March 2025. The first day of spring in the UK astronomically occurs on the vernal equinox where earth's axis is not tilted towards or away from the sun, resulting in an equal amount of day and night on all latitudes. (Photo by Neil Hall/EPA/EFE)

An urban fox walks alongside the Mall in central London, Britain, November 29, 2016. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)

People attend the 50th annual NYC Halloween Parade in New York City on October 31, 2023. (Photo by Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

American model and socialite Hailey Bieber shows off her figure while rolling around in the sand on November 20, 2025. (Photo by haileybieber/Instagram)

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)