A painted figure is seen on a wall of the home of the mother of Robert E. Crimo III, the 21-year-old suspect facing seven counts of first-degree murder in an attack on a Fourth of July parade, in Highland Park, Illinois, U.S. July 6, 2022. (Photo by Cheney Orr/Reuters)

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)

Gold medallist Kayla DiCello of the U.S. celebrates on the podium after winning the women's all-around final alongside silver medallist Brazil's Flavia Saraiva and bronze medallist Jordan Chiles of the U.S. at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile on October 23, 2023. (Photo by Agustin Marcarian/Reuters)

American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish in the last decade of October 2023 partners with Gucci to advocate for animals and gives us something to contemplate. (Photo by Instagram)

American swimmer Lydia Jacoby poses for a portrait during the Team USA media summit ahead of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, at an event in New York, U.S., April 17, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Beach volleyball athletes from Lithuania and Spain train in Paris on July 25, 2024. (Photo by Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters)

American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo is red hot backstage at her show in Argentina in the last decade of March 2025. (Photo by oliviarodrigo/Instagram)

A model takes a picture of photographers outside the Anna Sui show at the Strand Rare Book Room in New York on February 10, 2024. (Photo by Jeenah Moon for The Washington Post)