Natalia Grossman of the USA competes during the women's finals of the IFSC Climbing World Cup Meiringen on April 09, 2022 in Meiringen, Switzerland. (Photo by Marco Kost/Getty Images)

A veterinarian takes a sample from a cat at an animal shelter in Yeoju, southeast of Seoul, South Korea, 01 August 2023, after cats were found to have been infected with a highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza strain at shelters in Seoul on 25 and 29 July, marking the first infections of the virus in mammals since 2016. (Photo by Yonhap/EPA)

A Buddhist monk wearing a protective mask walks around the Sewu temple during the celebrations of Vesak Day, marking the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, May 26, 2021. (Photo by Willy Kurniawan/Reuters)

Garbage, including plastic waste, is seen at the beach of Costa del Este, in Panama City, on April 19, 2021. Every two weeks, Marine Biology students descend about five meters in the sea to take care of a coral nursery of the staghorn species (Acropora cervicornis) in Portobelo, Panama, with which they aim to restore reefs damaged by climate change and pollution, as part of the Reef2Reef project. (Photo by Luis Acosta/AFP Photo)

“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 brown bear waits for food at the zoo in Madrid, Spain on July 30, 2016. (Photo by Jorge Sanz/Pacific Press/SIPA Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

An Indian boy dressed as Hindu god Shiva to attract alms from devotees chats with tourists as they sit on benches partially submerged in flood waters on the banks of the River Ganges in Allahabad, India, Thursday, July 30, 2015. The Ganges, one of India's largest rivers is flooded following monsoon rains. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

Yu Jietao, 26-year-old wood carver, sits in his homemade wooden car along a street in Guangfeng county of Shangrao, Jiangxi province, China February 9, 2015. The car can travel as fast as 30 km (18.6 miles) per hour, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)