A kingfisher dives into the leafy water of the River Alde near Rendham, Suffolk in the second decade of November 2022 and catches two fish. Kingfishers must be able to see the fish they want to catch before making their dive, so for this bird to be successful when leaves covered the surface of the water shows its true skill for survival. (Photo by Ivor Ottley/Animal News Agency)

In this May 4, 2014 photo, a miner holds an amalgam of mercury and gold he mined after working a 28-hour shift at an illegal gold mining process, in La Pampa, in Peru's Madre de Dios region. Thousands of artisanal gold miners sweat through the long shifts and endure, for a few grams of gold, the perils of collapsing earth, limb-crushing machinery and the toxic mercury used to bind gold flecks. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Models Bria Murphy and Shayne Murphy attend the BET AWARDS '14 at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on June 29, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Earl Gibson III/Getty Images for BET)

“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)

A white whale wears a wreath at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, Japan, on October 3, 2012. (Photo by Associated Press)

Amanda Carroll from Crumlin and Chloe Morgan from Finglas at the Forbidden Fruit Festival at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin, Ireland on June 3, 2023. (Photo by Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie)

A volunteer feeds a swift chick after it was found on the ground during a heatwave and given to the Centre Ornithologique de Readaptation in Genthod near Geneva, Switzerland on July 25, 2023. (Photo by Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

A bird swoops in to deliver its food to its chick, ramming it deep into its mouth while in flight. The photos of the swallows were captured by Kelvin Leong in Hampstead Wetlands Park, Singapore in July 2023. (Photo by Kelvin Leong/Solent News & Photo Agency)