A Palestinian youth throws a stone at an Israeli military vehicle during an Israeli army raid in the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank town of Nablus, Saturday, May 13, 2023. the Israeli military raided the Balata refugee camp in the northern city of Nablus, sparking a firefight that killed two Palestinians. (Photo by Majdi Mohammed/AP Photo)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)

In this Wednesday, December 2, 2015 photo, Dr. Gal Kelmer, head of the department of large animals, unties a horse after its operation at the University's Koret School of Veterinary Medicine in Rishon Lezion, Israel. “Horses have an instinctive response of flight from danger”, Kelmer said. “The minute they wake up they start trying to stand and run, even if they don't have control of their limbs. So then they fall”. (Photo by Oded Balilty/AP Photo)

Dr. Marius Kruger (C) and memeber of the Kruger National Park keeps the head of a rhino up during a white rhino relocation capture on October 17, 2014. The Kruger National Park relocated four rhinoceros from a high risk poaching area to a safer area as part of ongoing strategic rhinoceros management plan. (Photo by Stefan Heunis/AFP Photo)

Senior hurricane forecaster Dr. Jack Beven studies computer models as he tracks Tropical Storm Arlene at the National Hurricane Center on June 29, 2011 in Miami, Florida. Arlene is the first named storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season and is moving at 8 mph, packing sustained winds of 50 mph as it heads towards the east-central coast of Mexico. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Dr. Hannah Cobb from The University of Manchester looks at a viking sword during a viewing at CFA Archaeology of artefacts discovered from the first fully intact Viking boat burial site on October 18, 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Conjoined twins Angelica (C) and Angelina Sabuco (L) play with child life specialist Allison Brooks during a press conference at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford on October 31, 2011 in Palo Alto, California. Two year-old conjoined twins Angelica and Angelina Subaco who are connected at the chest and abdomen are preparing for separation surgery by Dr. Gary Hartman. The surgery will last between 6 and 8 hours that is followed by three hours of reconstructive surgery for each girl. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A stone giant exhausted after his long travels decided to rest a while and drink from a pond far below. He lay down and started drinking from the crystal clear pond. So delicious was the water that he was unable to quench his thirst no matter how much he tried. Weeks have passed, months, years. The body of the stone giant became one with the hills and even his tongue has turned to water. This might seem like a fairy tale, yet you’ll be able to see this stone giant if you ever come to Wattens, Austria. He’s still there, guarding the entrance to Swarovski Kristallwelted, otherwise known as the Crystal Worlds. This is a one-of-a-kind theme park that was created by the people who first created Swarovski crystals.