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)

Growing cities, overuse of fertilizers and factory wastewater have degraded China's water supplies to the extent that half the nation's rivers and lakes are severely polluted. China aims to spend $850 billion to improve filthy water supplies over the next decade, but even such huge outlays may do little to reverse damage caused by decades of pollution and overuse in Beijing's push for rapid economic growth. Photo: Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 19, 2009. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

Chinese women run with a ball on a snow covered field in Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning province during International Women's Day on March 8, 2018. International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 every year and commemorates the movement for women's rights. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

A giant Iron Man statue stands next to a replica Sphinx in Chuzhou, Anhui Province, China on February 21, 2017. (Photo by Sipa Asia/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Miss Lithuania, Patricija Belousova, poses for the judges, during the national costume show during the 63rd annual Miss Universe Competition in Miami, Fla., Wednesday, January 21, 2015. (Photo by J. Pat Carter/AP Photo)

An abortion rights demonstrator covered in fake blood during an “Abortion is Freedom” rally outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., US, on Monday, July 4, 2022. Last month the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and wiped out the constitutional right to abortion, leaving it to individual states to decide whether abortions are allowed. (Photo by Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A woman holds her umbrella while walking against strong winds as Typhoon Soudelor approaches Taiwan in Taipei, August 7, 2015. Taiwan evacuated hundreds of people from their homes on Friday as the strongest typhoon to threaten the island in two years churned towards it and was expected to make landfall early on Saturday. (Photo by Pichi Chuang/Reuters)

Valeria Ruiz, 10, from Colombia, does a cartwheel while visiting the U.S. Capitol, as Republican members of the House continue to work towards electing a new Speaker of the House in Washington, U.S., October 9, 2023. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)