A female participant of the Bela Negara – “defend the nation” – programme applies camouflage face paint on another participant's face at a training centre in Rumpin, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia June 2, 2016. (Photo by Darren Whiteside/Reuters)

Students feed fruit to an elephant during Thailand's National Elephant Day in the ancient Thai capital Ayutthaya March 13, 2015. Thais honoured the elephant on Friday with special fruits and Buddhist ceremonies across the country to pay homage to their national animal. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

People of pro-government groups, with Russian flags, dance marching through downtown Moscow to mark People's Unity Day, a public holiday, in Russia, on Tuesday, November 4, 2014. Russia marks National Unity Day on November 4 to celebrate the defeat of Polish invaders in 1612. (Photo by Ivan Sekretarev/AP Photo)

Chinese hostesses, who serve the delegates of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and National People's Congress, have souvenir photos taken in front of the Great Hall of the People during sessions of the CPPCC and NPC held in Beijing, China Tuesday, March 4, 2014. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

Motorcycling, Gotland Grand National 2016 endure race, Gotland, Sweden on October 29, 2016. Riders compete. (Photo by Soren Andersson/Reuters/TT News Agency)

“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)