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Microscopic Honey Bee Eye Wins 2015 Nikon Small World Top Prize

Oct 14, 2015

Top Photomicrographs of 2015 Revealed as Nikon Announces Winners of Annual Global Competition Celebrating Art & Science

First Place Winner: Eye of a honey bee (Apis mellifera) covered in dandelion pollen

Nikon Instruments Inc. today brings the world eye-to-eye with a honey bee, awarding first place of the annual Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition to Australian Ralph Grimm for his incredible close-up image of a bee eye covered in dandelion pollen grains. Grimm’s winning image is not only visually striking, but brings to light just how little is understood about how these incredible insects see the world.

In addition to Grimm, Nikon recognized over 77 other winners of the 2015 Small World competition, including a ranked Top Twenty, 12 Honorable Mentions and 56 Images of Distinction. With submissions spanning 83 countries, competition was tough. Judges selected winners that displayed not only artistic quality but exceptional scientific technique.

“Each year we are blown away by the incredible quality and quantity of microscopic images submitted from all over the world, from scientists, artists, and photomicrographers of all levels and backgrounds. This year was certainly no exception,” said Eric Flem, Communications Manager, Nikon Instruments. “Judges had their work cut out for them in narrowing down from such a rich pool of applicants, and we are so pleased with the results. Each of these winning images exhibits the exemplary technique, scientific discipline and artistry for which Nikon Small World is known.”

Judges were particularly impressed by the masterful technique Grimm employed to capture this image stack, which included over four hours of careful work to mount the eye, set the focus increments, properly illuminate the subject and avoid peripheral smudging during the stacking process. The resulting image is a testament to Grimm’s painstaking efforts.

The story behind the image is also touching. As a high school teacher, self-taught photomicrographer and former beekeeper, the subject matter is near and dear to Grimm’s heart. While bee colonies continue to dwindle worldwide, Grimm hopes his image can serve as a voice for this rapidly disappearing insect that plays such a critical function in pollinating the world’s crops.

“In a way I feel as though this gives us a glimpse of the world through the eye of a bee,” says Grimm. “It’s a subject of great sculptural beauty, but also a warning- that we should stay connected to our planet, listen to the little creatures like bees, and find a way to protect the earth that we all call home.”

Ralph Grimm now joins the ranks of 37 other photomicrographers, artists and scientists from all over the world who have taken the top prize. This year’s competition received over 2,000 entries from more than 83 countries around the world.

Top Five Images:

1. Ralph Claus Grimm, Eye of a honey bee (Apis mellifera) covered in dandelion pollen

2. Kristen Earle, Gabriel Billings, KC Huang & Justin Sonnenburg, Mouse colon colonized with human microbiota

3. Dr. Igor Siwanowicz, Intake of a humped bladderwort (Utricularia gibba), a freshwater carnivorous plant

4. Daniel H. Miller & Ethan S. Sokol, Lab-grown human mammary gland organoid

5. Dr. Giorgio Seano & Dr. Rakesh K. Jain, Live imaging of perfused vasculature in a mouse brain with glioblastoma

The exceptional panel of judges who select the winning images has a tradition of including some of the most distinguished names working in the scientific community and science journalism today. The 2015 panel includes:

• Jacqueline Howard, Science Associate Editor, Huffington Post

• Ernie Mastroianni, Photo Editor, Discover Magazine

• Dr. Tim Mitchison, Vice-chair of the Department, and Co-chair of the Ph.D. program in Systems Biology, Harvard Faculty and Sciences in Cambridge

• Dr. Hari Shroff, Chief and Tenure-track investigator, Section on High-Resolution Optical Imaging, at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)

Top images from the 2015 Nikon Small World Competition will be exhibited in a full-color calendar and through a national museum tour. For additional information, please visit www.nikonsmallworld.com, or follow the conversation on Facebook and Twitter @NikonSmallWorld.

Nikon Small World In Motion

For the first time, Nikon will also unveil the winners of its sister competition, Nikon Small World in Motion, in December 2015. Celebrating and showcasing the best of science and art under the microscope in the form of video, the 2015 Small World in Motion winners will be revealed on December 9, 2015 on www.nikonsmallworld.com.

THE OFFICIAL 2015 NIKON SMALL WORLD WINNERS

The following are the Top 20 and Honorable Mentions for Nikon Small World 2015. The full gallery of winning images, along with Images of Distinction can be viewed at www.nikonsmallworld.com.

1st Place

Ralph Claus Grimm

Jimboomba, Queensland, Australia

Eye of a honey bee (Apis mellifera) covered in dandelion pollen (120x)

Reflected Light

2nd Place

Kristen Earle, Gabriel Billings, KC Huang & Justin Sonnenburg

Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Stanford, California, USA

Mouse colon colonized with human microbiota (63x)

Confocal

3rd Place

Dr. Igor Siwanowicz

Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Janelia Farm Research Campus, Leonardo Lab

Intake of a humped bladderwort (Utricularia gibba), a freshwater carnivorous plant (100x)

Confocal

4th Place

Daniel H. Miller & Ethan S. Sokol

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biology

Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Lab-grown human mammary gland organoid (100x)

Confocal

5th Place

Dr. Giorgio Seano & Dr. Rakesh K. Jain

Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital

Edwin L. Steele Laboratory for Tumor Biology

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Live imaging of perfused vasculature in a mouse brain with glioblastoma

Optical Frequency Domain Imaging System

6th Place

Henri Koskinen

Helsinki, Finland

Spore capsule of a moss (Bryum sp.)

Reflected Light

7th Place

Evan Darling

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

New York, New York, USA

Starfish imaged using confocal microscopy (10x)

Confocal

8th Place

Dr. Tomoko Yamazaki

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Nerves and blood vessels in a mouse ear skin (10x)

Confocal

9th Place

Dr. Nathanael Prunet

California Institute of Technology and Dartmouth College, Department of Biology

Pasadena, California, USA

Young buds of Arabidopsis (a flowering plant) (40x)

Confocal

10th Place

Ian Gardiner

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Clam shrimp (Cyzicus mexicanus), live specimen (25x)

Darkfield, Focus Stacking

11th Place

Rogelio Moreno Gill

Panama, Panama

Fern sorus at varying levels of maturity (20x)

Fluorescence, Image Stacking

12th Place

Hannah Sheppard-Brennand

Southern Cross University, National Marine Science Centre

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Developing sea mullet (Mugil cephalus) embryos (40x)

Brightfield

13th Place

Jose Almodovar

University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Mayaguez Campus, Biology Department

Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, USA

Tentacles of a carnivorous plant (Drosera sp.) (20x)

Image Stacking

14th Place

Viktor Sykora

Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine

Prague, Czech Republic

Australian grass (Austrostipa nodosa) seed (5x)

Darkfield

15th Place

Dr. Heiti Paves

Tallinn University of Technology, Department of Gene Technology

Tallinn, Estonia

Anther of a flowering plant (Arabidopsis thaliana) (20x)

Confocal

16th Place

Charles B. Krebs

Charles Krebs Photography

Issaquah, Washington, USA

Feeding rotifers (Floscularia ringens) (50x)

Darkfield

17th Place

Dr. David Maitland

Feltwell, United Kingdom

Black witch-hazel (Trichodactylus crinitus) leaf producing crystals to defend against herbivores (100x)

Differential Interference Contrast

18th Place

Roland Gross

Gruenen, Bern, Switzerland

Hairyback worm (Chaetonotus sp.) and algae (Micrasterias sp.) (400x)

Differential Interference Contrast

19th Place

Dr. Richard R. Kirby

Marine Biological Association

Plymouth, United Kingdom

Planktonic larva of a horseshoe worm (phoronid) (450x)

Darkfield

20th Place

Frank Reiser

Nassau Community College, Department of Biology

Garden City, New York, USA

Suction cups on the diving beetle (Dytiscus sp.) foreleg (50x)

Image Stacking, Photomerge

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Jace Artichoker

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)

Rochester, New York, USA

Mouse embryo, 10.5 days old (11x)

Confocal

Norm Barker

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Department of Pathology

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Red fossil coral slab (20x)

Reflected Light

Dr. Michael J. Boyle

Smithsonian Marine Station, Life Histories Department

Fort Pierce, Florida, USA

Peanut worm (Sipuncula) trochophore larva, 3 days old (yellow: cilia; cyan: DNA; red: serotonin in the nervous system) (40x)

Confocal

Michael Crutchley

Pembrokeshire, Wales, United Kingdom

Adult marine worm (Autolytus) (30x)

Macroscopy

Dr. Reto Paul Fiolka

UT Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Cell Biology

Dallas, Texas, USA

Mitochondria in a live HeLa cancer cell (63x)

3D Structured Illumination Microscopy

Cynthia Levinthal

Q Therapeutics, Clinical/Research Department

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Human neural stem cells (200x)

Fluorescence

Dr. Daniela Malide

National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Light Microscopy Core Facility

Bethesda, Maryland, USA

3D reconstruction of mouse brown adipose (fat) tissue (40x)

Third Harmonic Generation Microscopy

Rogelio Moreno Gill

Panama, Panama

Mites on insect pupa (20x)

Darkfield, Image Stacking

Dr. Helen Rankin

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California, USA

Transgenic Xenopus laevis (African clawed toad) tadpole head expressing green neurons (10x)

Confocal

Dr. Robert B. Simmons

Briarwillow LLC

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Foraminifera (a deep sea microscopic organism) isolated from a deep sea dredge in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean (4x)

Stereomicroscopy

Dr. Luca Toledano

Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona

Verona, Italy

Detail of jewel beetle (Coleoptera Buprestidae) (32x)

Macroscopy, Image Stacking

Susan Tremblay

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California, USA

Liverwort (Lepidolaena taylorii) plant showing modified leaves (water sacs), which are often home to aquatic microorganisms such as rotifers (100x)

Brightfield

About Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition

The Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition is open to anyone with an interest in photography. Participants may submit their images in traditional 35mm format, or upload digital images directly at www.nikonsmallworld.com. For additional information, contact Nikon Small World, Nikon Instruments Inc., 1300 Walt Whitman Road, Melville, NY 11747, USA or phone (631) 547-8569. Entry forms for Nikon’s 2016 Small World Competition may also be downloaded from www.nikonsmallworld.com.