“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)

A performer dances at a housing exhibition in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, September 27, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Indian women wearing traditional attire take a “selfie” with an Indian man dressed as King 'Mahabali' during the Hindu harvesting festival Onam celebrations in Bangalore, India, 28 August 2015. Local people put flower mats in front of their houses, to welcome the King Mahabali, a past ruler of Kerala southern India, during the ten-day festival. (Photo by Jagadeesh N. V./EPA)

A Great White Pelicans eats fish in the Mishmar HaSharon reservoir, Israel, Wednesday, November 4, 2015. Thousands of Pelicans stop in the reservoir for food provided by the Israeli nature reserves authority as they make their way to Africa. (Photo by Ariel Schalit/AP Photo)

Residents with faces covered in ash ride on a motorcycle as Mount Sinabung volcano erupts, in Sukandebi village in Karo Regency, Indonesia's North Sumatra province, Indonesia June 13, 2015, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Photo by Rony Muharrman/Reuters/Antara Foto)

A protester jumps on the table in front of the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi during a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany April 15, 2015. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

Lowry Park Zoo elephants Matjeka, 23, and her 1-year-old daughter, Mavi, apply a liberal coating of “sunscreen” to themselves in a clay mud wallow at the park Tuesday, August 12, 2014, in Tampa, Fla., on the park's first observation of World Elephant Day to raise awareness of the wild African elephant crisis. “Elephants are prone to being sunburned”, said associate curator Chris Massaro. “What they need is lot of mud or clay to roll around in and cover up their skin so it will protect it from the sun”. (Photo by Cherie Diez/AP Photo/The Tampa Bay Times)

A poster for the IMAX presentation of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” (left), and a teaser poster for “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part I”, both created by the Los Angeles-based design firm IGNITION. Both are nominated for the 2014 Key Art Awards in the category of Theatrical Domestic One-Sheet. The Hollywood Reporter's annual competition for the best in film and TV advertising honors some of the most creative imagery used in movie posters. Here is a selection of some of this year's nominees. (Photo by Key Art Awards 2014)