“Microscope images forge an extraordinary bond between science and art, said Hidenao Tsuchiya, Olympus America's Vice President and General Manager for the Scientific Equipment Group. We founded this competition to focus on the fascinating stories coming out of today's life science research laboratories. The thousands of images that people have shared with the competition over the years reflect some of the most exciting work going on in research today – work that can help shed light on the living universe and ultimately save lives. We look at BioScapes and these beautiful images as sources of education and inspiration to us and the world”. – OlympusBioScapes

Photo: Pretarsus of the third leg of a female drone fly (Eristalis tenax), ventral view, by Dr. Jan Michels, Institute of Zoology, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany. (Photo by Olympus BioScapes)

A Los Angeles County firefighter puts water a burning house in a wildfire in the Lake View Terrace area of Los Angeles Tuesday, December 5, 2017. Ferocious winds in Southern California have whipped up explosive wildfires, burning a psychiatric hospital and scores of other structures. Tens of thousands of people have been ordered evacuated. (Photo by Chris Carlson/AP Photo)

Undated handout photo issued by Carhenge Glastobury of the Carhenge installation by artist Joe Rush, on the site of Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset. Made of 24 vintage cars erected in the centre of the festival, the installation emulates the ancient stone structure at Stonehenge. Issue date: Tuesday, June 20, 2023. (Photo by Matt Cardy/PA Wire Press Association)

The Spirit of Ecstasy, also called “Emily”, “Silver Lady” or “Flying Lady,” was designed by English sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes and carries with her a story about a secret passion between John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu (second Lord Montagu of Beaulieu after 1905, a pioneer of the automobile movement, and editor of The Car Illustrated magazine) and his love and the model for the emblem, his secretary Eleanor Velasco Thornton. Photo: Worker Ronald Little displays a finished “Spirit of Ecstasy”. (Photo by Stefan Wermuth/Reuters)

Restive woman driving. (Photo by Cultura Creative (RF)/Alamy Stock Photo)

A motorcyclist, Helton Garcia dressed as Santa Claus, rides his motorcycle before handing out gifts to children in a rural school in Santo Antonio do Descoberto, state of Goias, Brazil on December 10, 2023. (Photo by Adriano Machado/Reuters)

A moon appears behind a windmill a day before the supermoon is full on September 8, 2014 in Consuegra, in Toledo province, Spain. Consuegra belongs to a region made famous by the novel “Don Quijote de la Mancha” (Don Quixote) writed by Miguel De Cervantes. Some of the windmills belong to the 16th century. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

The first load of passengers queuing for the Bennie Railplane in Glasgow; the inventor George Bennie is third in the queue. The streamlined cars are self propelled, driven by air screws in front and behind, and hang from a steel girder. (Photo by J. A. Hampton/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). 4th July 1930