“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)

Tibetan pilgrims walk outside the Sera Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, 11 September 2016. Sera Monastery is known as one of the “great three” Gelug university monasteries of Tibet founded in 1419. (Photo by How Hwee Young/EPA)

Camera trapper Xavier Hubert-Brierre put this large mirror on the side of a road through the jungle in Gabon and left a camera there to record how the animals would respond to their own reflections. A silverback gorilla thought it was seeing another silverback and responded by trying to scare off the potential challenger… (Photo by Xavier Hubert-Brierre/Johns Hopkins University Press)

Members of the University of Maryland women's lacrosse team react to something Trump said after posing for photographs during an event with NCAA championship teams at the White House on November 17, 2017. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

A priest is seen looking out of Abuna Yemata church’s only window. Priests cheerfully tell visitors that pregnant women, babies and old people attend Sunday services and no one has fallen off. (Photo by Ethiopia – The Living Churches of an Ancient Kingdom/The American University in Cairo Press/The Guardian)

Lebanese university students wearing municipality police costume regulate the traffic in the village of Brummana, east Beirut, Lebanon, 23 June 2018. The touristic town of Brummana is making a daring move in anticipation of the crowded summer season, by forming a group of young policewomen wearing mini shorts to regulate the traffic. (Photo by Wael Hamzeh/EPA/EFE)

Maggie Estby, of Champlin, Minn., high-fives her bulldog Bam Bam after the pooch was crowned the winner of the annual Drake Relays Beautiful Bulldog Contest, Monday, April 25, 2022, in Des Moines, Iowa. The pageant kicks off the Drake Relays festivities at Drake University where a bulldog is the mascot. (Photo by Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo)

A goat hops from student to student during a goat yoga class at the University of Tennessee on August 25, 2022 as part of welcome back week. The session was organised by Goat Yoga Nashville. (Photo by Matt Hamilton/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP Photo)