Since 1975 Nikon, on the occasion of its Small World Awards competition, has awarded prizes to the best images captured with specific tools, such as a confocal microscope, which is capable of capturing details with a very shallow depth of field. The different shots are then assembled by computer to give a three-dimensional image.
13th place: “Agatized dinosaur bones.” © Randy Fulbright
In this year 2022, the first prize goes to Grigorii Timin and Dr Michel Milinkovitch for their image of the hand of a giant gecko embryo from Madagascar. This piece of hand is only 3 mm wide and has therefore been magnified 63 times using a confocal microscope. It took two days of acquisition and 200 GB of data to obtain this image.
1st place
“Hand of a giant Madagascar gecko embryo.” © Grigorii Timin / Dr Michel Milinkovitch
2nd place
“Myoepithelial cells in breast tissue around alveoli used for milk production.” © Caleb Dawson
3rd place
“Blood vessel networks in the gut of an adult mouse.” © Satu Pavonsalo / Dr Sinem Karaman
4th place
“Phalangid seal.” © Dr. Andrew Posselt
5th place
“Slime Mold.” © Alison Pollack
6th place
“Unburned carbon particles released when the hydrocarbon chain of candle wax breaks down.” © Ole Bielfeldt
7th place
“Human neurons from neural stem cells.” © Dr. Jianqun Gao / Prof. Glenda Halliday
8th place
“Growth of the tip of a red algae.” © Dr. Nathanael Prunet
9th place
“Liquid crystal mixture.” © Dr. Marek Sutkowski
10th place
“A fly between the mandibles of a tiger beetle.” © Murat Oztürk