Indian women beat men with stick (Lathi) during celebration of Lathmar Holi in Nandgaon village of Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh, India on February 25, 2018. Holi is observed in India at the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the lunar month. (Photo by Javed Sultan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

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)

Since her stint in the 2019 Love Island villa, where she made the nation laugh, Irish television personality Maura Higgins has been working as a brand ambassador for Ann Summers. And the 31-year-old has really set pulses racing in her latest edit with the saucy lingerie brand. Available online and in stores from today, December 1, 2021, Maura has looks absolutely stunning in the new Ann Summers Christmas campaign which includes bodysuits and basques, two-piece sets, bras, and thongs in festive hues for the Christmas season. (Photo by Ann Summers/The Mega Agency)

Members of the Hitler Youth who are trained to report airstrikes repaining their bicycles. Published by: “Die Sirene”. 1942. (Photo by Herbert Hoffmann/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images)

Revellers celebrate the New Year in Princes Street during Hogmanay street party celebrations in Edinburgh, Scotland January 1, 2015. (Photo by Russell Cheyne/Reuters)

A man watches the approaching flames as the Springs fire continues to grow near Camarillo, California, on May 3, 2013. The wildfire has spread to more than 18,000 acres on day two and is 20 percent contained. (Photo by David McNew)

Now celebrating its 40th year, Nikon Small World is widely regarded as the leading forum to recognize proficiency and photographic excellence of photography taken under the microscope. To select the winners, competition judges analyzed entries from all over the world covering subjects ranging from chemical compounds to up-close-and-personal looks at biological specimens. The 2014 winners will be revealed on October 30th. In 2014, the competition received over 1,200 entries from more than 79 countries around the world. (Photo by Dr. Igor Robert Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World 2014)