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See the 2015 Small World in Motion winners

Nikon Instruments Inc. today unveiled the winners of the fifth annual Nikon Small World in Motion Photomicrography Competition, awarding First Place to veteran winner Wim van Egmond of the Micropolitan Museum in The Netherlands. Judges were impressed with the thrilling video van Egmond captured of a ciliate predator devouring its prey.

The microorganisms in this slow-moving attack were scooped out of a backyard pond, as van Egmond hoped to inspire his friend to take more interest in her microscope. Luckily he had his camera ready when he recognized the predator and prey so close together, capturing a real-time recording when the attack began.

“Wildlife is so close to us, yet most of us never look close enough to see it,” said van Egmond. “A pool in your garden is actually a miniature underwater jungle teeming with life. If you want to see the world, your backyard is a great place to start.”

Mr. van Egmond is a former first-place winner of Nikon Small World, Nikon’s long-standing sister competition awarding still photography captured under the microscope. In recent years he has put more time in moving images, thanks to advancing DSLR video capabilities that allow him to capture movement and behavior of microorganisms. “For me, microscopy is about exploring living organisms - so you should see them alive and moving,” said van Egmond.

It is this continued advancement of digital technology that led to the creation of Nikon Small World in Motion five years ago, as scientists and artists were suddenly able to show another dimension to life under the microscope.

“Wim exemplifies the evolution of Small World over the years, as technological advances push our ability to see and discover the world forward, and video takes center stage,” said Eric Flem, Communications Manager, Nikon Instruments. “Beyond still images, video has become a powerful tool for artists and scientists to show the life and movement they see under the microscope every day. This competition serves as a platform to share those discoveries with the world, and hopefully inspire others to pick up a microscope and take a closer look.”

Second Place in the 2015 Nikon Small World in Motion competition went to Danielle Parsons of Wonder Science TV in the United States. Her video provides a glimpse into the roiling gut contents of a termite, including the organisms that help break down wood for their termite hosts. The darkfield microscopy Parsons employed affords dramatic lighting effects and a bold color palate, resulting in an almost cinematic quality of the video. As a science communicator, Parsons was drawn to the unique and intricate collaboration of these species, which have formed their endosymbiotic partnership over evolutionary time.

Gonzalo Avila, a PhD candidate from The University of Auckland, claimed Third Place for his mesmerizing yet horrifying video of a parasitoid wasp larva breaking out of its host and spinning its cocoon. Grim as this parasitism process appears, these wasps play a critical role in controlling the population of the aptly named Gum-Leaf Skeletoniser moth - a pest causing serious damage to Eucalyptus in Australia and New Zealand. While the process of the larva slowly breaking out of its host body can take several hours, Avila’s video is played at 64x speed to show the escape in a matter of skin-crawling seconds.

In addition to First, Second and Third prize winners, Nikon Small World in Motion recognized an additional 15 entries as Honorable Mentions.

The 2015 judging panel includes: Dr. Tim Mitchison of Harvard Medical School, Dr. Hari Shroff of NIBIB, and Ernie Mastroianni of Discover Magazine.

For additional information, please visit www.nikonsmallworld.com, or follow the conversation on Facebook and Twitter @NikonSmallWorld.

NIKON SMALL WORLD IN MOTION WINNERS

First Place

Mr. Wim van Egmond

Micropolitan Museum

Berkel en Rodenrijs, Netherlands

Trachelius ciliate feeding on a Campanella ciliate

250x

Second Place

Miss Danielle Parsons

Wonder Science TV

Los Angeles, United States

Gut contents of a termite, containing hundreds of species of single-celled parabasalid microorganisms (Trichonympha)

Darkfield

40x & 100x

Third Place

Mr. Gonzalo Avila

University of Auckland

Auckland, New Zealand

A parasitoid larva (Cotesia urabae) breaking out of its host (Uraba lugens) and then spinning its cocoon to start pupation

10x

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Dr. Alireza Abbaspourrad

Cornell University

Ithaca, United States

Structural emulsions containing nutrients releasing its contents upon exposure to a simulated gastric fluid

40x

Dr. Paolo Annibale & Enrico Gratton

University of California, Irvine

Irvine, United States

Fluorescently labeled chromatin array (LacI-mCherry: red) and mRNA (MS2-EGFP: green) in U2OS 263 cells following Dox induction (+30′). Discrete Petals of mRNA synthesis are clearly visible moving on the surface of the transgene array

Confocal

60x

Mr. Michael Evers

Massachusetts General Hospital

Boston, United States

A human dermal fibroblast tissue phantom ablated by a 5 ns long laser pulse

3.05x

Mr. Ralph Grimm

Jimboomba, Australia

Rotifer (Lepadella triba) feeding

1000x

Mr. Gerd-A. Günther

Unicellular ciliates (Paramecium caudatum and Frontonia leucas)

Differential Interference Contrast (first sequence) and Polarized Light (second sequence)

300x

Dr. John Hart

University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

Boulder, United States

Soap film

10x-50x

Dr. Daisuke Kurihara

Nagoya University

Nagoya, Japan

Thale cress plant (Arabidopsis thaliana) embryogenesis

Confocal

30x

Dr. Annie Lu & Dr. Srinivasa Raghavan

University of Maryland

College Park, United States

Chitosan capsules containing platinum reacting with hydrogen peroxide under a glass slide

2x

Ms. Haripriya Mukundarajan, Vivek N. Prakash, Nicolas Harmand & Manu Prakash

Stanford University

Stanford, United States

Cyanobacterium (Oscillatoria princeps) filaments

Brightfield

100x

Dr. Luigia Santella, A. Puppo, JT Chun, G. Gragnaniello & E. Garante

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn

Naples, Italy

Intracellular calcium increase and sperm incorporation following fertilization of a starfish egg

70x60um

Dr. Abigail Tucker & Dr. Marcia Gaete

King's College London

London, United Kingdom

Mouse whisker follicle development in culture

Stereomicroscopy

6.3x

Mr. Wim van Egmond

Micropolitan Museum

Berkel en Rodenrijs, Netherlands

Water flea (Ilyocryptus)

100x

Mr. Wim van Egmond

Micropolitan Museum

Berkel en Rodenrijs, Netherlands

Penicilliumfungi growth, showing hypha, spore production and guttation droplets

10x

Dr. Michael Weber

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics

Dresden, Germany

Cardiovascular system of a 4 day old zebrafish

20x

Dr. Jing Yan, Jie Zhang & Dr. Steve Granick

Princeton University

Princeton, United States

Janus colloids, micron sized particles that spontaneously move in an AC electric field

40x

ABOUT THE 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 or videos 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) 547-4200.