“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)

The R.C. Bush Pilots club was started in 1981, for those who enjoy flying radio control (RC) model planes. It’s one of the largest clubs in Florida, and calls Phil Wherry Field in West Palm Beach home. Photo: Professional pilot and remote control plane enthusiast Bob Rembert prepares to start the propeller of a 1/4 scale Edge 540 remote control, gas powered plane. (Photo by Bill Ingram/The Palm Beach Post)

The valley of La Geria, which has been declared a 'Protected Area', is Lanzarote’s main wine-growing region, occupying about 20 square miles (52 square kilometres) and stretching on both sides of the road from Masdache to Uga and right up to the volcanic slopes. This area produces most of Lanzarote’s excellent wines, of which 75 per cent are made from the Malvasía grape, one of the oldest known grape varieties. Best known as a honey-coloured, very sweet wine with a rich flavour, already praised by Shakespeare hundreds of years ago, today the Malvasía grape produces a wide variety of quality white, red or rosé wines, from very sweet to very dry.

Venezuela's food shortages, inflation and crumbling medical sector have become such a source of anguish that a growing number of young women are reluctantly opting for sterilizations rather than face the hardship of pregnancy and child-rearing. Traditional contraceptives like condoms or birth control pills have virtually vanished from store shelves, pushing women towards the hard-to-reverse surgery. While no recent national statistics on sterilizations are available, doctors and health workers say demand for the procedure is growing. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Vets of Animals Asia Foundation's Vietnam Bear Rescue Center hold a paw of a sun bear as they check its health while it is rescued from a Vietnamese family in Nam Dinh province, south of Hanoi, Vietnam August 18, 2016. A man in northern Vietnam has voluntarily handed over a bear his family had caged for seven years to an animal rights organization, which will take it to a nearby sanctuary. (Photo by Reuters/Kham)

An Indian artist gives the finishing touches to a figure of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha at a workshop ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in New Delhi on September 15, 2015. The idol is meant for the forthcoming festival Ganesha Chaturthi, a ten-day long event which is celebrated all over India. During the Ganpati festival, that is celebrated as the birthday of Lord Ganesha, idols of the Hindu deity are worshipped at hundreds of pandals or makeshift tents before they are immersed into water bodies. This year, the festival starts on 17 September 2015. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)

In this Wednesday, November 11, 2015 photo, one of the giant mechanical sharks that starred in the movie “Jaws” is seen at Aadlen Brothers Auto Wrecking, also known as U Pick Parts, in the Sun Valley section of Los Angeles. It's not just a junkyard or even a really big junkyard, but a living, breathing monument to Los Angeles pop culture. But the family business is closing on New Year's Eve, and everything must go by then, the cars, the shark, the arches, even the giant car-crushing machine. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)