“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 “Maya” girl sits in an altar during the traditional celebration of “Las Mayas” on the streets in Madrid, Spain Sunday, May 10, 2015. The festivity of the Maya comes from pagan rites and dates from the medieval age, appearing in ancient documents. It takes place every year in the beginning of May and celebrates the beginning of the spring. Girls between 7 and 11 years old are chosen as “Maya” and should sit still, serious and quiet for a couple of hours in altars on the street decorated with flowers and plants and afterwards they walk to the church with their family where they attend a ceremony. (Photo by Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP Photo)

These are the explosive images of some of the world's most ASH-stonishing volcanic eruptions. Spectacular snaps capture lava spewing down the side of Kilauea, ash spitting from craters and plumes of smoke rising thousands of feet in the air. Russian non-profit AirPano travel the globe taking the breath-taking panoramic images, compiled in this series displaying their most stunning volcanic shoots. Included in the set – which spans four continents – are images from across the United States, Iceland, Russia, Ethiopia and Indonesia. To capture the 360-degree images, AirPano photographers spend around two hours in a helicopter, sending out drones to capture the action below. Here: Volcano Plosky Tolbachik, Kamchatcka, Russia. (Photo by Airpano/Caters News)

A motorcycle modified to run on rails is seen inside a tunnel connected to the Altiplano Federal Penitentiary and used by drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to escape, in Almoloya de Juarez, on the outskirts of Mexico City, July 15, 2015. U.S. law enforcement officials met with agents of the Mexican attorney general's office this week to share information related to the escape from prison of Guzman and coordinate efforts to apprehend him, a Mexican government official said on Wednesday. (Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

Ravi Nath poses for a photograph with a cobra snake in Jogi Dera (Snake charmers settlement), in the village of Baghpur, in the central state of Uttar Pradesh, India November 10, 2016. An ancient tribe of snake charmers, known as Saperas, have thrived over the generations by catching venomous snakes and making them dance to their music. Snakes are revered by Hindus in India and snake charmers are considered the followers of Lord Shiva, the blue-skinned Hindu god who is usually portrayed wearing a king cobra around his neck. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

A four-year-old dog Nika stands next to an image of Cuba's revolutionary hero Ernesto “Che” Guevara in front of a flooded street in Havana, January 23, 2016. Havana's seafront Malecon continued to be slammed by massive waves that flooded parts of the seaside city on Saturday. As a result, Havana was confronting flooding as a cold front passes through the Caribbean island. The giant waves began washing up onto shore during sunrise. The waves have been accompanied by winds passing through at a speed between 35 and 50 km (21 to 31 miles) per hour. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

A fish jumps over a net as a boy works in a fish farm at Htantapin township, outside Yangon, Myanmar February 18, 2016. One in five children in Myanmar aged 10-17 go to work instead of school, according to figures from a census report on employment published last month, and the opening up of the economy since 2011 has triggered a spike in demand for labour. Many children work in fish farming and processing. At Yangon's San Pya fish market, the country's largest, girls and boys as young as nine clean and process fish and unload boats and trucks during 12-hour overnight shifts. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Rope access technicians carry out maintenance service on wind turbines including repairs, blade inspections and cleaning in Izmir, Turkey on February 19, 2021. In Turkey, where investments in renewable energy has increased, there are wind tribunes over 3,500. (Photo by Mahmut Serdar Alakus/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)