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)

Reuters photographer Bobby Yip took a series of portraits of people taking part in the “Occupy Central” protests in Hong Kong, and asked them why they had joined the demonstrations. China rules Hong Kong under a “one country, two systems” formula that accords the territory limited democracy. Tens of thousands of mostly student protesters are demanding Beijing give them full democracy, with the freedom to nominate election candidates. The unrest is the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule over the former British colony in 1997. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

An enormous crocodile mauls a young hippo calf carcass near Lower Sabie on May 11, 2014, in Kruger National Park, South Africa. An enormous crocodile tosses around a young hippo calf caught in its lethal jaws. The giant reared out of the water revealing a young hippo calf between its teeth. The huge beast then span, jumped and splashed in the water with the small carcass. Amateur photographer Roland Ross captured these incredible photographs near Lower Sabie in Kruger Park, South Africa. (Photo by Roland Ross/Barcroft Media)

A student falls asleep as she holds a book containing a portrait of China's late chairman Mao Zedong during a lesson at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School in Sitong town, Henan province December 3, 2013. In a remote part of central China, the day starts at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School with a pre-dawn jog, some revolutionary songs and then an activity long since forgotten at other schools: reciting quotations from Mao Zedong's famed “Little Red Book”. While the ruling Communist Party that Mao led continues to hold him in esteem as the leader of the Communist Revolution, his radical policies and teachings have been largely shelved since his death in 1976 in favour of a pro-market approach that has turned China from a backwater into the world's second biggest economy. The 120th anniversary of Mao's birth is on December 26, 2013. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

English singer, who was a member of the British girl group “Little Mix” from 2011 to 2020 Jesy Nelson (L) looked incredible as she hit the beach in a black bikini with palsin the first decade of March 2022. The pop star, who is currently living it up in Malibu, let her hair down underneath blue skies on the west coast. (Photo by Instagram)

Kylie Jenner shows off a lot of cleavage in these new photos added to her Snapchat account on Thursday, August 25, 2016. Something that a lot of the 19-year-old reality star's fans pointed out was that her breasts looked larger than normal and she took to Twitter to explain why. Kylie said that she has “never” gotten her breasts done and that they look large because “it's that time of the month”. She even offered to let a fan feel them to prove that they are real! “They will deflate soon. And it will be a sad sad day”, Kylie added. (Photo by Scope Features)

A walruses at Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, Germany on July, 7, 2015. (Photo by Werner Struss/Startraks action)

Chinese-American actress Bai Ling is seen on October 15, 2018 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Hollywood To You/Star Max/GC Images)