Third place: the rear leg, claw and respiratory trachea of a louse (Haematopinus suis). (Photo by Frank Reiser/Nassau Community College/Nikon Small World Photomicrography 2021)

Cai Xuning, 36, takes care of pet rabbits at PET ZONE pet store on January 17, 2023 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Pet rabbit breeder and PET ZONE store owner Cai Xuning is seeing an increase in interest in pet rabbits, as China prepares to welcome the Spring Festival on January 22, ushering in the Year of the Rabbit. (Photo by Getty Images)

Highly commended birds : Crested guan by Tim Hunt (UK). ‘This photo shows a crested guan in the cloud forests of Costa Rica as it pauses while foraging on a lone branch. Due to the clouds that are so typical for this habitat, I could often only photograph the bird’s silhouette against a grey sky. But then, for a short moment only, the sun broke through the clouds, and I overexposed the image by over two stops in order to blow out the background and allow this beautifully marked bird to stand out’. (Photo by Tim Hunt/GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015)

A competitor wearing a onesie with Brussels sprouts battles gale force winds during the Dutch Headwind Cycling Championships on the storm barrier Oosterscheldekering near Neeltje Jans, south-western Netherlands, Sunday, February 9, 2020. (Photo by Peter Dejong/AP Photo)

Brain-on-a-chip. Dazzling in green and magenta this image shows the nerve fibres (in green) produced by neural stem cells (in magenta) as they grow on a synthetic gel. Captured by a technique known as confocal microscopy, the image is part of research shedding light on how tinkering with the environment can affect the way in which nerve fibres grow. (Photo by Collin Edington and Iris Lee/Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Wellcome Images)