A person participates in the parade of the “San Jose Carnival” in San Jose, Costa Rica, 27 December 2018. The festival sees people parading through the city's main avenues as part of the San Jose Celebrations that take place at the end of each year. (Photo by Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA/EFE)

An Orchid Mantis (Hymenopus coronatus) is perched on the head of a frog hanging from a tree branch on March 15, 2017 in Padang, Indonesia. (Photo by Riau Images/Barcroft Images)

A king eider sea duck tackles a prickly dinner of sea urchin on a lake in Batsfjord, Norway in the last decade of August 2024. The drake’s breeding plumage consists of a distinctive powder-blue head and neck, orange frontal lobe and a red bill. (Photo by Mia Surakka/Solent News)

A snail (Helix Aspersa) and a baby snail sit on a leave in a farm in Vienna June 12, 2013. Andreas Gugumuck owns Vienna's largest snail farm, exporting snails, snail-caviar and snail-liver all over the world. The gourmet snails are processed using old traditional cooking techniques and some are sold locally to Austrian gourmet restaurants. (Photo by Leonhard Foeger/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)

A child with his body and face painted prepares to attend the sacred Ngerebeg ritual at the Tegallalang village in Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia, 03 April 2024. The sacred Ngerebeg ritual takes place every six months and it is mainly aimed at driving all evil spirits out of the villages. During the ritual, the participants paint their bodies in various colors and patterns to join the procession across the village. (Photo by Made Nagi/EPA/EFE)

Beach Policeman, Potomac River, 1922. (Photo by National Photo Company/Colorized by Patty Allison)

Lilly Caron, 8, of Bridgeton, Maine, Jason Homchick, of San Diego, and Lilly's father Jason Caron, (obscured), ride the Sky Swing at Seacoast Adventure, Thursday, July 14, 2016, in Wyndham, Maine. The 100-foot-tall swing gives riders the combined thrills of sky diving and hang gliding. (Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)