This image of an ant's head, viewed from the front (at 10X) took 11th place in the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition. The ant's autofluorescence was observed using confocal micrsocopy by Dr. Jan Michels of Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel, in Kiel, Germany. #

HeLa cancer cells viewed at 300x are seen in this 12th Place image by Thomas Deerinck from the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research in La Jolla, California. HeLa is an immortal cell line used in scientific research, made of cells originally sampled from cancer patient Henrietta Lacks in 1951. #

Taking 4th place in the competition, Dr. Robin Young of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia used intrinsic fluorescence to observe this specimen of liverwort (Lepidozia reptans) at 20x. #

Crystal twinning patterns in a leucite crystal from volcanic rock, observed in polarized light by Dr. Michael M. Raith of the Steinmann Institut, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. #

Pekka Honkakoski of Iisalmi, Finland captured this image of a rare column snowflake with thin, knifelike ice extensions, lit in part by red and blue lighting from opposite sides. #

Taking 20th place was Douglas Moore of the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Moore's entry shows unpolished agatized dinosaur bone cells, fossilized cellular structure from an animal that lived some 150 million years ago, viewed at 42x. #

Dr. Torsten Wittmann of the University of California, San Fransisco, submitted this image of bovine pulmonary artery endothelial (BPAE) cells fixed and stained for actin, mitochondria, and DNA. #

Taking 10th place is this 100x view of a freshwater water flea (Daphnia magna), submitted by Joan Röhl of the Institute for Biochemistry and Biology in Potsdam, Germany. #

James H. Nicholson of the Coral Culture and Collaborative Research Facility, NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCEHBR & HML in Charleston, South Carolina took 15th Place with this image of lobe coral (Porites lobata), displaying tissue pigmentation response with red fluorescence at 12x. #

The 1st place winner, a portrait of a green lacewing (Chrysopa sp.) larva (20x) by Dr. Igor Siwanowicz of the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried, Germany. #

Benjamin Blonder, David Elliott took 18th place for their image of the venation network of a young quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) leaf. Blonder and Elliott are from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. #

At 17th Place is this 150x view of parasitic filaria worms (Litomosoides sigmodontis) nestled inside lymphatic vessels of a mouse's ear. Immge by Dr. Witold Kilarski of the EPFL-Laboratory of Lymphatic and Cancer Bioengineering in Lausanne, Switzerland. #

Using laser-triggered high-speed macrophotography, Dr. John H. Brackenbury of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, UK, captured this image of a water droplet containing a pair of mosquito larvae. #

A three dimensional view of a cell culture of breast cancer cells, by Dr. Jonatas Bussador do Amaral and Dr. Gláucia Maria Machado Santelli of the University of São Paulo in São Paulo, Brazil. #