In this October 15, 2014 file photo, Katsu Nakamura, sky division manager for Yamaha USA, moves the RMax unmanned helicopter into position before a demonstration of its aerial application capabilities at the University of California, Davis' Oakville Station test vineyard in Oakville, Calif. Researchers at UC Davis have been studying the effectiveness of the drone's ability for spraying pest control and nutritional materials on the test vineyard in California's Napa Valley. (Photo by Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo)

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)

An undercover police officer, who had been marching with anti-police demonstrators, aims his gun at protesters after some in the crowd attacked him and his partner in Oakland, California December 10, 2014. Police said more than 100 demonstrators marched in Berkeley, California, which has a history of social activism. Under cloudy skies, turnout was smaller than earlier in the week, when demonstrators in the area threw rocks at police and shut down a major freeway. (Photo by Noah Berger/Reuters)

Sheriffs' deputies look at wreckage from the crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo near Cantil, California November 2, 2014. A suborbital passenger spaceship being developed by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic company crashed during a test flight on Friday at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, killing one crew member and seriously injuring the other, officials said. (Photo by David McNew/Reuters)

Tourists enjoy the rare opportunity to walk in water as they visit Badwater Basin, the normally driest place in the US, in Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California on February 18, 2024. Badwater Basin, an endorheic basin in Death Valley National Park, was flooded by Hurricane Hilary in August 2023 and recent rains in California. It is the lowest point in North America, at 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level. (Photo by David Swanson/AFP Photo)

Actress Laverne Cox attends The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS)

Model Lara Lieto arrives for the Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Graydon Carter at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 26, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters)

Jason Derulo (C) performs “Get Ugly” at the People's Choice Awards 2016 in Los Angeles, California January 6, 2016. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)