This strange coral-looking specimen is actually a mushroom. The photo, “Beautiful Destroyer”, was taken in the Panamanian tropical rainforest where the mushroom produces nitrogen, an element vital to soil health. (Photo by Sarah A. Batterman)

Visitors look at a giant puppet of a grandmother sleeping on a bed inside St George's Hall in Liverpool, northern England July 23, 2014. The grandmother is one of two giant models made for a World War I commemorative event. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Reuters)

A huge atlas moth, with a wingspan of more than 9in, photographed on an areca nut plantation in Sirsi, India. (Photo by Uday Hegde/Close Up Photographer of the Year)

Flowers have always been used in art and fashion. They are everywhere from haute couture scarves to household wallpaper but one artist Lim Zhi Wei, who calls herself Limzy, has created beautiful paintings using fresh flowers that outshines all of those things.

“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)

“The pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis) is a large mammal native to the forests and swamps of western Africa (the specific name liberiensis means “of Liberia”, as this is where the vast majority live). The pygmy hippo is reclusive and nocturnal. It is one of only two extant species in the Hippopotamidae family, the other being its much larger cousin the common hippopotamus”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Monifa, a one month old baby Pygmy Hippopotamus takes a morning bath at Taronga Zoo on November 7, 2008 in Sydney, Australia. Monifa is the first Pygmy Hippopotamus to be born at Taronga Zoo in the past twenty three years. (Photo by Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images)

Artists wearing Japanese traditional clown masks march during the First Konpira Festival at Kotohiragu shrine in Tokyo Wednesday, January 10, 2018. The shrine is dedicated to sailors and seafaring. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

An Army Sikorsky R-5 helicopter, undergoing record trials, demonstrates its lifting power by carrying 17 persons and pilot aloft as female onlookers wave in Bridgeport, Conn., January 10, 1946. During the tests records were claimed for altitude speed and both altitude and speed with payload. (Photo by Anthony Camerano/AP Photo)