The world we see with our eyes is just one view of reality, but microscopes can bring a smaller, practically invisible universe within reach.
Photographs taken through the lenses of a high-power ‘scope can reveal lifeforms and objects no person has ever seen.
They also highlight beautiful, artistic, and often shocking details in common objects, like soap bubbles, dried coffee, flowers, and butterfly tongues:
The Nikon Small World contest celebrates the most amazing microscope photos from around the world, and 2016’s competition was as amazing as any of the years before it: more than 2,000 entries from 70 countries. (I was a judge for the 40th year of the contest.)
Nikon will release the winners on Wednesday, October 19, via its Instagram account, @NikonInstruments.
Until then, soak in the finalists below - and cast a vote for your favorite.
Red speckled jewel beetle
Foto: source Yousef Al Habshi/Nikon Small World
Eyes of a jumping spider
Foto: source Yousef Al Habshi/Nikon Small World
Slime mold
Foto: source Jose Almodovar/Nikon Small World
Zebrafish fin
Foto: source Leonardo Andrade/Nikon Small World
Glycerin-based soapy solution
Foto: source Haris Antonopoulos/Nikon Small World
Ammonite shell
Foto: source Norm Barker/Nikon Small World
Zooplankton carefully arranged by hand in Victorian style
Foto: source Stefano Barone/Nikon Small World
Microcrystal test for oxycodone
Foto: source Kelly Brinsko/Nikon Small World
Tiger beetle and a scale of the forester moth
Foto: source Rudolf Büchi/Nikon Small World
Human HeLa cell undergoing cell division
Foto: source Dylan Burnette/Nikon Small World
Head of a skinbow zebrafish larvae
Foto: source Chen Chen-Hui/Nikon Small World
Copper crystals
Foto: source Honorio Cócera-La Parra/Nikon Small World
Human brain cells differentiated from embryonic stem cells
Foto: source Gist F. Croft, Lauren Pietilla, Stephanie Tse, Szilvia Galgoczi, Maria Fenner, Ali H. Brivanlou/Nikon Small World
Fungus growing on cow dung
Foto: source Michael Crutchley/Nikon Small World
Scales of a butterfly wing
Foto: source Evan Darling/Nikon Small World
Mouse hand showing veins
Foto: source Evan Darling/Nikon Small World
Tintinnid ciliate of a marine plankton from the Indian Ocean
Foto: source John Dolan/Nikon Small World
The prolegs of a hairy caterpillar gripping a small branch
Foto: source James Dorey/Nikon Small World
Head of an orange ladybird
Foto: source Geir Drange/Nikon Small World
Ant pupae
Foto: source Geir Drange/Nikon Small World
Fossil diatom composed of 20 individual photos
Foto: source Frank Fox/Nikon Small World
Mullein flower
Foto: source Karl Gaff/Nikon Small World
Green bottle fly
Foto: source Erno Endre Gergley/Nikon Small World
Flow currents generated by an eight-week-old starfish larva
Foto: source William Gilpin, Vivek N. Prakash, Manu Prakash/Nikon Small World
Butterfly scales
Foto: Scales of a butterfly wing Agrodiaetus thersites Chapman's Blue male source Anne Gleich/Nikon Small World
Algae
Foto: source Anne Gleich/Nikon Small World
Air bubbles in evaporating tequila
Foto: source James Hayden/Nikon Small World
Rubber coated with a thin glass
Foto: source James Hedrick/Nikon Small World
Beta-alanine and taurine crystals
Foto: source Matt Inman/Nikon Small World
Cultured fat cells from a grizzly bear
Foto: source Heiko T. Jansen, Jamie Gehring, Kimberly Rigano, Charles Robbins/Nikon Small World
Deep sea crustacean
Foto: source Tomonari Kaji/Nikon Small World
Mouse retinal ganglion cells
Foto: source Keunyoung Kim/Nikon Small World
Mouse retina, laid flat
Foto: source Keunyoung Kim/Nikon Small World
A daisy's central disc pattern of tiny unopened flowers
Foto: source Peter Kinchington/Nikon Small World
Espresso coffee crystals
Foto: source Vin Kitayama and Sanae Kitayama/Nikon Small World
Black elder tree flower stamen
Foto: source Laurie Knight/Nikon Small World
Spore capsule of a moss
Foto: source Henri Koskinen/Nikon Small World
Tail of a small shrimp
Foto: source Charles Krebs/Nikon Small World
Cross section of a lily of the valley
Foto: source Falco Krüger/Nikon Small World
Brain matter of a transgenic mouse in 3D
Foto: source Hei Ming Lai and Dr. Wutian Wu/Nikon Small World
Testis of a fruit fly
Foto: source Christopher Large/Nikon Small World
Mosquito larva
Foto: source Edwin Lee/Nikon Small World
Section of the cerebellum in a brain
Foto: source Marc Leushacke/Nikon Small World
Surface of embryonic mouse kidney
Foto: source Nils Lindstrom/Nikon Small World
Barley stem cross section
Foto: source Stephen Lowry/Nikon Small World
Leaves of a lesser club moss
Foto: source David Maitland/Nikon Small World
Crystals of salicin, a painkiller, extracted from Willow tree bark
Foto: source David Maitland/Nikon Small World
Seeds of an Indian Paintbrush wildflower
Foto: source David Millard/Nikon Small World
Curvepod fumewort seed
Foto: source David Millard/Nikon Small World
Egg of a Gulf Fritillary butterfly
Foto: source David Millard/Nikon Small World
Caudal gill of a dragonfly larva
Foto: source Marek Mis/Nikon Small World
Air bubbles formed from melted ascorbic acid crystals
Foto: source Marek Mis/Nikon Small World
Leg of a water boatman
Foto: source Marek Mis/Nikon Small World
Polished slab of Teepee Canyon agate
Foto: source Douglas L. Moore/Nikon Small World
A Frontonia cell showing ingested food, cilia, mouth, and trichocysts
Foto: source Rogelio Moreno Gill/Nikon Small World
Algae cells
Foto: source Jacek Myslowski/Nikon Small World
Water mite
Foto: source Jacek Myslowski/Nikon Small World
Cerebellum brain section of a rat
Foto: source Barbara Orsolits/Nikon Small World
Hippocampal brain slice
Foto: source Jennifer Peters/Nikon Small World
Midge flies
Foto: source Csaba Pintér/Nikon Small World
Goatsbeard flower seeds
Foto: source Csaba Pintér/Nikon Small World
Poison fangs of a centipede
Foto: source Walter Piorkowski/Nikon Small World
Cross-section of reinforced carbon-fiber
Foto: source Peter Pook/Nikon Small World
Young flower buds of Arabidopsis, a flowering plant
Foto: source Nathanaël Prunet/Nikon Small World
Early stages of mouse embryos
Foto: source Gaelle Recher, M. Goolam, M. Zernicka-Goetz /Nikon Small World
Section of stem of a plant specimen
Foto: source Edgar Javier Rincón/Nikon Small World
Robber fly
Foto: source Jan Rosenboom/Nikon Small World
Viperfish
Foto: source Alvaro Roura/Nikon Small World
Crystals of diclofenac (also called Zorvolex), a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug
Foto: source Adolfo Ruiz De Segovia/Nikon Small World
Four-day-old zebrafish embryo
Foto: source Oscar Ruiz/Nikon Small World
Oreina cacaliae
Foto: source Pia Scanlon/Nikon Small World
Butterfly proboscis
Foto: source Jochen Schroeder/Nikon Small World
Wasp eyes
Foto: source Jochen Schroeder/Nikon Small World
3D picture of moving vesicles
Foto: source Erdinc Sezgin/Nikon Small World
Wildflower stamens
Foto: source Samuel Silberman/Nikon Small World
Wildflower stamens
Foto: source Samuel Silberman/Nikon Small World
Front foot of a male diving beetle
Foto: source Igor Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World
Inside of a humped bladderwort, a freshwater carnivorous plant
Foto: source Igor Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World
Gear-like hind legs of a planthopper nymph
Foto: source Igor Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World
Scales of a butterfly wing underside
Foto: source Francis Sneyers/Nikon Small World
Section of a begonia flower
Foto: source Viktor Sykora/Nikon Small World
Jurinea mollis seed
Foto: source Viktor Sykora/Nikon Small World
Dahlia flower section
Foto: source Harold Taylor/Nikon Small World
Leaves of a liverwort plant
Foto: source Magdalena Turzańska/Nikon Small World
Casuarina seed
Foto: source Anastasia Tyurina/Nikon Small World
Trumpet animalcule an endosymbionts
Foto: source Wim van Egmond/Nikon Small World
Diatoms
Foto: source Arlene Wechezak/Nikon Small World
Hippocampal neurons
Foto: source Wutian Wu/Nikon Small World
Jellyfish
Foto: source Teresa Zgoda/Nikon Small World
Galls of a mite and fungus on the surface of a scarlet firethorn plant
Foto: source Györgyi Zséli/Nikon Small World
Ant leg
Foto: source Györgyi Zséli/Nikon Small World