“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)

Shortlisted: “Two big eyes” by Miao Yong (Zejiang province, China). Damselflies look over the leaves. “I was photographing insects in a park near my home when suddenly I found two damselflies in the grass. They kept flying and it was very difficult to focus until suddenly they parked behind a leaf”. (Photo by Miao Yong/2017 Royal Society of Biology Photographer of the Year)

Visitors looks at the flying car Pegasus 1, built by French entrepreneur Jerome Dauffy at Paris Air Show, in Le Bourget, east of Paris, France, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Aviation professionals and spectators are expected at this week's Paris Air Show, coming in, in a thousands from around the world to make business deals. (Photo by Michel Euler/AP Photo)

Photographer and editor with Reuters for 22 years, Andrew Winning has died of brain cancer at the age of 49. Here: Elite special police run for cover after gunfire was heard from inside the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru, January 27, 1997. At the moment the shots were fired, police were parading past the residence in a show of force, and helicopters were flying above. Earlier, several armored personnel carriers rolled past the compound. Tupac Amaru rebels had seized the diplomatic compound December 17 and held 72 hostages. (Photo by Andrew Winning/Reuters)

It’s the United States of Air-merica! Pilot Jassen Todorov from San Francisco spent three weeks flying across eight states in a 1976 Piper Warrior plane to capture the this shots – from deep craters in Arizona’s red desert and the swamps and wetlands in Florida and Louisiana, that look like they could be on alien planets, to freeways and stretches of suburban Texas. Here: El Paso, Texas at sunset. (Photo by Jassen Todorov/Caters News)

The R.C. Bush Pilots club was started in 1981, for those who enjoy flying radio control (RC) model planes. It’s one of the largest clubs in Florida, and calls Phil Wherry Field in West Palm Beach home. Photo: Professional pilot and remote control plane enthusiast Bob Rembert prepares to start the propeller of a 1/4 scale Edge 540 remote control, gas powered plane. (Photo by Bill Ingram/The Palm Beach Post)

A giant Uncle Sam balloon is marched down 6th Avenue during the 87th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thursday, November 28, 2013, in New York. After fears the balloons could be grounded if sustained winds exceeded 23 mph, Snoopy, Spider-Man and the rest of the iconic balloons received the all-clear from the New York Police Department to fly between Manhattan skyscrapers on Thursday. (Photo by John Minchillo/AP Photo)

In this undated photo made available by journal Nature on January 15, 2014, a northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) flies in Tuscany, Italy. A new study released Wednesday, January 15, 2014 says the birds choreograph the flapping of their wings, getting a boost from an updraft of air in the wake of the flapping wings by flying behind the first bird and off to the side. When a flock of birds take advantage of these aerodynamics, they form a V. (Photo by Markus Unsöld/AP Photo)