A hot air balloon rises in the sky during the International Hot-Air Balloon festival in Pokhara on December 27, 2024. With Nepal's snowy Himalayan peaks as a backdrop, the sky above Pokhara transformed into a vibrant canvas of colours for the country's first hot-air balloon festival. (Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP Photo)

A silicon rug in the form of Adolph Hitler on display during an exhibition by Israeli artist Boaz Arad, at the Center for Contemporary Art February 22, 2007 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Arad is an Israeli artist who is dealing with the Holocaust in a provocative way. He uses the Holocaust to discuss human evil and contemporary Israel, which he says is torn and crumbling. (Photo by David Silverman/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)

Policemen and residents run as waves from a tidal bore surge past a barrier on the banks of Qiantang River in Haining, Zhejiang province August 31, 2011. As Typhoon Nanmadol approaches eastern China, the tides and waves in Qiantang River recorded its highest level in 10 years, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

In this September 30, 2013 photo, farmers wait for customers next to their 1950s Chevrolet loaded with garlic for sale at the 114th Street Market on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba. The market s bustle is a result of economic reforms begun in 2010 by President Raul Castro, which includes relaxing rules on private farming. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

A policeman kick in the door of a residence next to the Black Panther headquarters in New Orleans as they moved in following a shootout, September 15, 1970. Other heavily armed policemen stand at ready. (Photo by Jack Thornell/AP Photo)

A woman wearing a traditional "mantilla" dress takes part in an open-air mass to celebrate Madrid's patron saint La Almudena Virgin in Madrid, Spain, November 9, 2015. (Photo by Susana Vera/Reuters)