According to the U.S. government, Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, depends on about $1.6 billion annually sent back from the roughly one million Moldovans who left for work in in Europe, Russia, and other former Soviet Bloc countries. Photographer Myriam Meloni went to Moldova to document what she refers to as “social orphans” – children whose parents have emigrated to another country in search of a job and a better future for their families. Here: Lulia is seen washing dishes in her grandmother's house, where she lives. (Photo by Myriam Meloni)

A woman dances as she participates in a procession to mark Falgun Mahotsav ahead of Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in Hyderabad, India, March 20, 2024. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A./AP Photo)

Worker Malian Vue beats the heat inside the refrigerator at the Agricenter Farmers Market in Memphis, Tennessee on July 5, 2025. (Photo by Karen Focht/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A woman walks a dog with styled and dyed fur on a street in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China on December 25, 2018. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

An unidentified man brandishes a gun during a protest against a new citizenship law outside the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, India, January 30, 2020. The gunman went live on Facebook to warn he was taking his “final journey” before firing at the protest. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

A model performs on the catwalk of the Lambertz Monday Night event at Alter Wartesaal in Cologne, Germany, 03 February 2020. (Photo by Friedemann Vogel/EPA/EFE)

A dog plays with a giant soap bubble in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, 06 March 2020. (Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA/EFE)

“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)