Pedestrians use their smartphones to capture the newly illuminated Christmas tree at the Syntagma square in Athens on November 23, 2023. (Photo by Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP Photo)

A child dressed as Hindu God Shiva begs for alms from devotees at the Sangam, the confluence of three rivers – the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, on the Makar Sankranti festival during the annual traditional fair of Magh Mela in Prayagraj, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Sunday, January 14, 2024. Hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims are expected to take dips in the confluence, hoping to wash away sins during the month-long festival. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

Cameroonian para-athlete and taekwondo African champion Marie-Antoinette Ndassi (R) and Cameroonian taekwondo para-athlete Chemogne Teukam Guileine (C) practice some moves during a training session at a gym in Yaounde, on May 31, 2024. Taekwondo para-athletes Marie-Antoinette Ndassi and Chemogne Teukam Guileine will represent Cameroon following their qualification for the upcoming Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. (Photo by Daniel Beloumou Olomo/AFP Phoot)

World War II reenactors gather ahead of the 80th anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, Normandy region, France, on June 2, 2024. (Photo by Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

In this photograph taken on September 1, 2024, a tea picker shows her hands whilst she reaps leaves at a plantation in Hatton. The backbone of the economy, Sri Lanka's tea pickers are determined to use their powerful vote to choose a president this month who will change grim working conditions for good. The pickers' main political party, the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), are backing the incumbent Wickremesinghe. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Swiss police officers stand beside of mock gates of the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel inside the event hall for the upcoming opening ceremony near the town of Erstfeld, Switzerland May 31, 2016. The celebrations of the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel will start on June 1, 2016. With a length of 57 km (35 miles) crossing the Alps, the Gotthard Base tunnel is the world's longest train tunnel. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

“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)

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)