These images have been created using a colour scanning electron microscope (SEM) by the award-winning Eye of Science, comprised of snapper Oliver Meckes and biologist Nicole Ottawa. For a decade the pair, based in Reutlingen in the south of Germany, worked with an old SEM they saved from the scrapheap, but for the last five years they have used a £250,000 FEI Quanta Series Field Emission SEM. Oliver said: “Flowers are beautiful in 'normal' view, but when you look closer, some parts get very bizarre and unexpected structures appear – flowers within flowers, worlds within worlds”. Photo: The floret of a Chamomile flower up close and personal. (Photo by Oliver Meckes/Barcroft Media)

“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)

“Be prepared” is the motto of petite Doris Sherrell, vocalist and dancer with “Blackouts of 1942”. In the event of a bombing, the young lady had her social security number tattooed on one leg by artist Jack Julian, and address placed on the other limb for means of identification in Los Angeles, September 29, 1942. (Photo by AP Photo)

Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney in the last decade of March 2023 showcased her jaw-dropping curves in a sеxy new bikini shoot. The American actress, 25, pulled off a sultry stare perfectly as she modelled a black two-piece from Frankies Bikinis. (Photo by @frankiesbikinis/Instagram)

A camel is seen as he is being brought for the foot surgery at the Dubai Camel Hospital in Dubai, UAE, December 11, 2017. (Photo by Satish Kumar/Reuters)

TV Personality Courtney Stodden attends OK! Magazine's pre-GRAMMY event at Avalon Hollywood on February 9, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

This handout picture taken on December 13, 2016 and released on December 14, 2016 by the Tiergarten Schoenbrunn zoo in Vienna, Austria, shows a baby sloth eating some salad as it hangs on it's mother's belly in their enclosure. The baby was born already on November 18, 2016, but according to the zoo it could be picured for the first time only now as it usually hides in it's mother's soft coat. (Photo by Daniel Zupanc/AFP Photo)