Brain-on-a-chip. Dazzling in green and magenta this image shows the nerve fibres (in green) produced by neural stem cells (in magenta) as they grow on a synthetic gel. Captured by a technique known as confocal microscopy, the image is part of research shedding light on how tinkering with the environment can affect the way in which nerve fibres grow. (Photo by Collin Edington and Iris Lee/Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Wellcome Images)

In this photo taken on Saturday, April 22, 2017, a drawing “King for a day” is made on the back of a muddy truck by artist Nikita Golubev in Moscow, Russia. The grimy trucks traversing the polluted and dusty streets of Moscow have inspired Golubev to use white vans and trucks as his canvas to create this ephemeral street art and signs his drawings Pro Boy Nick. (Photo by Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo)

A gravedigger has lost his job of 40 years after a photograph of him standing half-naked in a burial plot was deemed offensive and provoked outcry among local newspaper readers.

“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 Palestinian man sits on a damaged car following Israeli airstrikes on Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, May 20, 2021. Heavy airstrikes pummeled a street in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, destroying ramshackle homes with corrugated metal roofs nearby. The military said it struck two underground launchers in the camp used to fire rockets at Tel Aviv. (Photo by Khalil Hamra/AP Photo)

A US Army M1A2 SEP tank participates in the Strong Europe Tank Challenge 2017 at the military training area in Grafenwoehr, Germany, 12 May 2017. Six North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nations and partner nations, Austria, France, Germany, Poland, Ukraine and the USA are taking part in this competing exercise. (Photo by Christian Bruna/EPA)

A bull savar (jockey) guides his bulls as he competes in a bull race on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan July 1, 2018. (Photo by Faisal Mahmood/Reuters)

Vehicles move past a man wearing a protective mask against COVID-19 as he waits for the bus in Karachi, Pakistan on December 11, 2020. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)