Now celebrating its 40th year, Nikon Small World is widely regarded as the leading forum to recognize proficiency and photographic excellence of photography taken under the microscope. To select the winners, competition judges analyzed entries from all over the world covering subjects ranging from chemical compounds to up-close-and-personal looks at biological specimens. The 2014 winners will be revealed on October 30th. In 2014, the competition received over 1,200 entries from more than 79 countries around the world. (Photo by Dr. Igor Robert Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World 2014)

“On Friday, after something of a show trial, three young women in a Russian punk band were found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison for an anti-Vladimir Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral earlier this year”. – Daniel Schwartz via CBC News

Photo: A woman wears on her chest the text “free p*ssy riot” as a demonstration by supporters of the jailed feminist punk band p*ssy Riot takes place outside the Russian Embassy on August 17, 2012 in London, England. The three women who staged an anti-Kremlin protest in a church in February, were found guilty today of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, and could face a three-year jail sentence. Supporters are gathering in several cities around the world today as a mark of solidarity. (Photo by Dan Kitwood)

Members of the English Defence League (EDL) take part in a demonstration through the streets of Leicester on February 4, 2012 in Leicester, England. Up to two thousand members of the EDL gathered in the centre of Leicester as an opposing demonstration by anti-fascists held their protest nearby. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Workers demonstrate outside the factory of Hua Yang Printing Holdings Co Ltd on October 30, 2007 in Shenzhen of Guangdong Province, China. Over 1,000 workers of the company have blocked the 107 State Highway where the firm is located, to protest against their employer, who owed half a month's salary to the workers. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

This photo taken on April 5, 2013 shows Buddhist monks passing a yak in Seda Monastery, the largest Tibetan Buddhist school in the world, with up to 40,000 monks and nuns in residence for some parts of the year. Seda, known to Tibetans as Serthar is located in Ganzi prefecture in the west of China's Sichuan province and has become a hotbed of protests and violence since the Tibetan uprisings of March 2008. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP Photo)

Riot police walk past burning garbage containers during heavy clashes with demonstrators during a 24-hour strike on March 29, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. Spanish workers staged a general strike to protest the government's latest labour reforms, which are designed to help Spain lower its deficit within EU limits. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

St Louis County police officers arrest an anti-police demonstrator in Ferguson, Missouri August 10, 2015. Dozens of protesters were arrested on Monday afternoon after blocking rush-hour traffic on Interstate 70 a few miles (km) from Ferguson, Missouri, during demonstrations over the police shooting of an unarmed black man a year ago, according to a Reuters witness. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

An Israeli soldier prays in front of a tank at a military staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip, in this July 24, 2014 file photo. Israel's long-running struggle to balance modern standards with Jewish tradition has come to a head in the military, where new orders curtailing beards among soldiers have met protests from some rabbis. (Photo by Nir Elias/Reuters)