In an observance of Epiphany, Russian Orthodox believers swim in an icy pond outside Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. (Photo by Olga “Zwezdochka”)

Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj (72) fights with Ottawa Senators forward Mark Kastelic (47) during the first period at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec on October 4, 2022. (Photo by Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports)

One of a members of the Franciscan Action Network and immigration rights activists is arrested during a demonstration calling for the end of immigrant detention on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 18, 2019. (Photo by Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

Model Kendall Jenner attends FIJI Water at HFPA's Official Viewing and After-Party at the Wilshire Garden inside The Beverly Hilton on January 7, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for FIJI Water)

Here are the bravest of the brave in 2016. Weve gathered some of the finest images showing daredevils taking their lives into their own hands and going to the very brink this year. Whether they are perched hundreds of feet up on a high wire, courageously clinging to a rockface or taking on a volcano, these adventurers take the breath away. Here: Morgane Choquet and Samuel Cobb relax in a vertical campsite on the slopes of El Capitan, Yosemite National Park. (Photo by Alexandre Eggermont/Caters News)

Spectators react as a competitor races past in the annual donkey festival in Salcedo, Ecuador, Saturday, September 10, 2022. (Photo by Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo)

A handout phptopgraph made avaiable by NASA showing Russian support personnel roll the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft after it landed with with with Expedition 47 crew members Tim Kopra of NASA, Tim Peake of the European Space Agency, and Yuri Malenchenko of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan 18 June 2016. Kopra, Peake, and Malenchenko are returning after six months in space where they served as members of the Expedition 46 and 47 crews onboard the International Space Station. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/EPA/NASA)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)