Now celebrating its 40th year, Nikon Small World is widely regarded as the leading forum to recognize proficiency and photographic excellence of photography taken under the microscope. To select the winners, competition judges analyzed entries from all over the world covering subjects ranging from chemical compounds to up-close-and-personal looks at biological specimens. The 2014 winners will be revealed on October 30th. In 2014, the competition received over 1,200 entries from more than 79 countries around the world. (Photo by Dr. Igor Robert Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World 2014)

The “voodoo” wrestler known as Panthère utters incantations above the alter of his shrine in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on July 27, 2023. In the capital of DR Congo, dozens of men and women – including former wrestlers – practice “voodoo wrestling”, using traditional fetishes and animals. Fights are organised in some of the city's poorest and most densely populated districts. (Photo by Alexis Huguet/AFP Photo)

These photographs are the work of urban explorer Dr Bradley Garrett who made headlines back in 2012 when he posted a series of snaps from the top of The Shard skyscraper while it was still under construction. Garrett, now a researcher at the University of Oxford, took these shots during his time with the London Consolidation Crew (LCC), a loose collection of urban explorers based in the English capital. Photo: Bradley Garrett stands on the edge of the Ritz-Carlton Chicago as lightning strikes in the distance in Chicago, US. (Photo by Bradley L. Garrett/Barcroft Media)

“Kusakabe Kimbei (1841 – 1934) was a Japanese photographer. He usually went by his given name, Kimbei, because his clientele, mostly non-Japanese-speaking foreign residents and visitors, found it easier to pronounce than his family name. Kusakabe Kimbei worked with Felice Beato and Baron Raimund von Stillfried as a photographic colourist and assistant before opening his own workshop in Yokohama in 1881 in the Benten-dōri quarter, and from 1889 operating in the Honmachi quarter. He also opened a branch in the Ginza quarter of Tokyo”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Writing Letter. (Photo by Kusakabe Kimbei)

“Photocillin is the pseudonym of Dr Andy Teo, physician and people photographer based in the Surrey/Hampshire borders near London in the UK. My style is about showing the beauty of people and the world in which they live in a retro-utopian way”. – Andy Teo. Photo: “Walking six feet tall”. (Photo by Photocillin)

A death mask thought to be that of English dramatist William Shakespeare (1566–1616). Found by Dr. Ludwig Becker in Mainz in 1849, the mask was linked to Shakespeare because of its 1616 date and its supposed facial resemblance to the writer. A rival theory, however, maintains that the mask is more likely to be that of English poet Ben Johnson. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1900

Bill Wyatt, owner of the Y Que Trading Post in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, wears a Donald Trump face mask in his shop during the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic on April 23, 2020. Wyatt has transformed his topical tee shirt business to a topical face mask business now called Y Que Mask and PPE Trading Post, since the start of the coronavirus crisis. According to Wyatt, the mask featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci is a best seller, as are masks with characters from the Netflix hit “Tiger King” and also popular internet memes. (Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP Photo)

In a north London hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears and blood vessels in the laboratory in a bold attempt to make body parts using stem cells. It is among several labs around the world, including in the U.S., that are working on the futuristic idea of growing custom-made organs in the lab. (Photo by Matt Dunham/AP Photo)