While this gnat appears to be caught mid-flight, the hapless critter is actually frozen in time, enveloped by tree resin some 40 million years ago. The tiny treasure, shown in this image by photographer Levon Biss, hails from the Baltic region of northern Europe, which boasts the largest amber deposit yet found.
This grain of rice is surprisingly soothing to gaze upon as light highlights each crack and blemish in its starchy surface, shown in this image by photographer Roni Hendrawan at 20-times magnification.
Curled in an iridescent ball, a sleeping cuckoo wasp looks serene in this image from insect photographer Thorben Danke. Don’t let the calm pose fool you: Similar to the bird that shares its name, the cuckoo wasp lays its eggs in the nests of other insects. The hatched larvae will then feed on the nest-builder’s babies or starve them to death by devouring stored food.
What appears to be a wiggly sea creature is actually the sliced crown of the root of a pearl millet plant, shown here at five times the magnification. University of Nottingham’s Dylan Jones made the image with a revolutionary new method known as laser ablation technology, in which laser pulses are used to vaporize the root surface, exposing a clean view of the plant’s internal structures for photography.
At 20-times magnification, the vein and scales of a Morpho didius butterfly wing begin to look like sculptures wrought in gold and bronze. The fine structures etched into the wings’ scales cause incoming light to diffract and interfere, which gives the butterfly’s wings a metallic blue colour to the human eye. Taken by French photographer Sébastien Malo, this image was awarded 10th place in this year’s contest.
A pair of plume-like antennae protrude from the head of a midge in this image made by Erick Francisco Mesén. The ornate headgear differs between male and female midges, perhaps allowing the bugs to tune into different sound frequencies. The plumes’ precise purpose is unknown, but scientists speculate that similar plumes on male mosquitoes—the blood-sucking relatives of the midge—help them spot females flying nearby.
Vibrant yellow grains of pollen seem precariously balanced atop the tip of a hibiscus anther in this image made by photographer Guillermo López López. The anther, shown here at 10-times magnification, both produces and disperses pollen and is part of the plant’s male reproductive organ, the stamen.
At 63-times magnification, the mineral agate looks like abstract art, as seen in this image taken by photographer Douglas Moore of the University of Wisconsin. The vibrant mineral forms from the crystallisation of silica-rich waters as it percolates through rocky voids, most often in freshly cooled lava flows. Variations in the crystal size, structure, and composition define the mineral’s characteristic layers.
Ever wonder what lies beneath a flowering bud’s petals? José Almodóvar, a biologist at the University of Puerto Rico, took this image of Clerodendrum paniculatum, commonly known as the “pagoda flower,” denuded of its petals, which reveals the bud’s lanky magenta pistil and stamens still curled up tight.
This tiny translucent brine shrimp is a mere four days old, shining in glowing contrast against a sea of black in this image by photographer Waldo Nell. Shown here at 10-times magnification, brine shrimp lay dormant embryos known as cysts that can be stored for long periods of time, making them an ideal food source in aquaculture. Many people may be familiar with one variety of brine shrimp under a more adorable name: sea monkeys.
While this face may resemble the beasts that haunt your dreams, it prefers mangoes to humans. The babies of the mango seed weevil burrow into the fruit’s giant seed, where they feast until the larvae turn to adults, one of which is shown in this image by Antoine Franck of France’s Center for International Research and Cooperation.
These glowing rocks may resemble the infinity stones of the fictional Marvel Universe, but they’re actually bits of sand at 10-times magnification in an image made by photographer Xinpei Zhang. Collected from the Namib Desert in southern Africa, the sand gets its brilliant color from an abundance of iron.
