U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stands inside the historic Shackleton hut near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, Friday, November 11, 2016. Kerry became the highest-ranking American official to visit Antarctica when he landed for a two-day trip on Friday. He's been hearing from scientists about the impact of climate change on the frozen continent. Kerry's aides described the trip as a learning opportunity for the secretary of state. He has been receiving briefings from scientists working to understand the effects of climate change on Antarctica. Kerry has made climate change an intensive focus of American diplomacy during his term, and had previously spent decades working on the issue as a U.S. senator. Trump has called climate change a hoax and said he would “cancel” U.S. involvement in the landmark Paris Agreement on global warming. (Photo by Mark Ralston/Pool Photo via AP Photo)

American actress Joey King in the second decade of May 2024 shares a silly selfie sipping a cocktail. (Photo by joeyking/Instagram)

(L-R) Recording artists Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj perform onstage during the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum on August 24, 2014 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images)

American professional wrestler and model Barbara Blank Coba, known professionally as Barbie Blank and by her ring name Kelly Kelly celebrated her 36th birthday on January 15, 2023. (Photo by @TheBarbieBlank/Twitter)

A huge colony of Pacific Walrus on Arakamchechen Island in the Northern Bering Sea. (Photo by Francois Gohier/Ardea/Caters News)

Soo Joo Park poses during a photocall before the Chanel Spring/Summer 2019 women's ready-to-wear collection show during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, October 2, 2018. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes/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)