Model Kendall Jenner attends the “120 Battements Par Minutes (120 Beats Per Minute)” screening during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 20, 2017 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

With its huge eyes, comical name and diminutive size, Mark R. Smith’s image of a baby Hawaiian bobtail squid can’t help but raise a smile. A curiously endearing creature, the cephalopod is just 1.5cm across, its mantle cavity bearing more than a passing resemblance to a rather natty shower cap. But it is also a beautiful example of symbiosis – nature’s version of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” – for on the underside of the squid is a light organ which houses bioluminescent bacteria. The squid offers the bacteria protection and food, while the bacteria emit a glow – a handy trait that the squid uses to offset its silhouette, helping it to evade predators in the depths below. Mark R. Smith’s entry combines several images of a Hawaiian bobtail squid with different focus lengths to create a final picture with greater depth of field than normal. (Photo by Mark R. Smith/Wellcome Images/Macroscopic Solutions)

A waitress of The Palais de Tokyo restaurant wears a protective face mask as a precaution against the coronavirus in Paris, Saturday, September 5, 2020. New French cases of COVID-19 jumped in 24 hours to nearly 9,000, health officials said Friday. The 8,975 new cases were the highest number of infections since France successfully grappled with the spread of the coronavirus during a strict two-month lockdown. There were some 1,800 cases less a day earlier and more than for European neighbors. (Photo by Francois Mori/AP Photo)

“Leopard Hunting a Stork”. “One-shot capture. I watched the leopard stalking the stork, I only had time to focus at 400mm, no time to change to high speed, I watched the stork, and as soon as it flapped its wings, I shot one shot”. (Photo by Paul Rifkin/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Of the epic landscape, the California-based photographer said: “It was an incredible moment and I'm just glad I decided that day to pick up my camera and give it a go because I don't know if I will ever get the chance again”. (Photo by Nolan Nitschke/Caters News)

Firefighters take part in the bodybuilding event during a firefighting skills contest at the National Fire Service Academy in Gongju, South Korea on June 3, 2024. (Photo by Shin Hyeon-jong)

A visitor poses for a photograph in front of a 3D painting depicting a Japanese Imperial army soldier at a 3D art gallery in Beijing January 16, 2015. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

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)