“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)

“Double head vulture”. On the day of windy days during raptors migration some people in my country start to catch these tired raptors, so in this day we go to photograph some raptors and we saw these tow tired vultures, so we start to drag them away from the hunters until they reach a good hidden place, to make them safe until they start a new journey. Photo location: Kuwait. (Photo and caption by Mohd Khorshed/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A Pataxo woman listens to her cell phone as she waits for the start of the Indigenous people's meeting with Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as part of the 18th annual Free Land Indigenous Camp, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (Photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo)

Garbage, including plastic waste, is seen at the beach of Costa del Este, in Panama City, on April 19, 2021. Every two weeks, Marine Biology students descend about five meters in the sea to take care of a coral nursery of the staghorn species (Acropora cervicornis) in Portobelo, Panama, with which they aim to restore reefs damaged by climate change and pollution, as part of the Reef2Reef project. (Photo by Luis Acosta/AFP Photo)

A girl shows a fish she has caught in a bare- hand fish catching contest held in Housangyuan Village of Lyutan Township Wuyi County, east China' s Zhejiang Province, September 23, 2018. People across China hold various activities to celebrate the country' s first Farmers' Harvest Festival, which falls on Sept. 23 this year. (Photo by Zhang Jiancheng/Xinhua News Agency/Barcroft Images)

An Afghan girl rides a horse at the beach in Karachi, Pakistan, 07 September 2020. (Photo by Rehan Khan/EPA/EFE)

The sunrises at 04.25am at St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay, on the North East coast of England on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, the day before Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)

Arachnids category 3rd place: dancing spider by Raed Ammari. Male jumping spiders (in this case a Phidippus insignarius) perform a courtship dance in which they almost form a heart shape with their legs. This one was shot in Colorado. (Photo by Raed Ammari/Luminar Bug Photographer of the Year 2020)