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)

Have you ever been interested in the sign language? Surely you’ve always wanted to learn the art of sending a message using just your hands. To help people achieve this goal, Alex Solis has taken a photo of a hand showing each letter of the alphabet. However, this has been done many times before, which is why Alex decided to make each of the photos more interesting by placing little drawn animals and creatures onto each photo. Thanks to these cute little drawings the pictures become very endearing and memorable. All the little creatures blend in seamlessly into the pictures thanks to their well-chosen poses. This project, created by Alex Solis, is very unique and useful, allowing anyone to quickly remember all the listed hand gestures. (Photo by Alex Solis)

“Cassowaries are large, flightless birds related to emus and (more distantly) to ostriches, rheas, and kiwis”, writes Olivia Judson in the September issue of National Geographic magazine. How large? People-size: Adult males stand well over five foot five and top 110 pounds. Females are even taller, and can weigh more than 160 pounds. Dangerous when roused, they’re shy and peaceable when left alone. But even birds this big and tough are prey to habitat loss. The dense New Guinea and Australia rain forests where they live have dwindled. Today cassowaries might number 1,500 to 2,000. And because they help shape those same forests – by moving seeds from one place to another – “if they vanish”, Judson writes, “the structure of the forest would gradually change” too. (Photo by Christian Ziegler/National Geographic)

In this picture taken on June 24, 2017 participants take part in the “Women's Beautiful Buttock series” contest shopping mall in Shenyang, Liaoning province. Ladies from different parts of China gathered in Shenyang to show off their perfect curves during the competition. While it is unclear who ended up taking home 1st place, it looks like everyone had a good time regardless of whether or not they won the title. In November 2016, Brazil held a similar competition, Miss BumBum, which was attended by more than 10 million people. Erika Canela, a 24-year-old beauty from Bahia won the main title of the contest. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

Boya Latumahina, alter ego, Zippora Lux is a Design student studying at Central St Martins in London. She has created these space age cats by combining two of her favourite things, cats and telescopic photographs.

Frida Karlsson takes 2nd place, Therese Johaug of Norway takes 1st place, Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg of Norway takes 3rd place during the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships Women's Cross Country Classic on February 26, 2019 in Seefeld, Austria. (Photo by Lisi Niesner/Reuters)

People throw turnips at the Jarramplas as he makes his way through the streets beating his drum during the Jarramplas Festival in Piornal, Spain, Tuesday, January 20, 2015. Jarramplas is a character that wears a costume made from colorful strips of fabric, and a devil-like mask and beats a drum through the streets of Piornal while residents throw turnips as a punishment for stealing cattle. The exact origin of the festival are not known, various theories exist from the mythological punishment of Caco by Hercules, to a cattle thief ridiculed and expelled by his neighbors. The Jarramplas Festival takes place every year from the 19th till the 20th of January on Saint Sebastian Day. (Photo by Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP Photo)