"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see"

As you would have probable guessed by now, this blog is a great fan of science-related art projects. So, this post is dedicated to the Nikon Small World Competition. The winners of the 2017 competition have been announced and since then I spend at least one hour every day just looking at these amazing pictures. I mean, they are just mind-blowing!!!

I am posting some of my favorites below but I strongly suggest that you visit their site and maybe spend the rest of your life just admiring the miracle of life (and light microscopy).

This came 7th but is the winner in my heart. Dr Ryo Egawa's individually labeled axons in an embryonic chick ciliary ganglion.

This picture was taken at the Institute for Life Sciences in Southampton by Catarina Moura, Dr. Sumeet Mahajan, Dr. Richard Oreffo & Dr. Rahul Tare and it depicts growing cartilage-like tissue in the lab using bone stem cells (collagen fibers in green and fat deposits in red). I think you all agree with me that it looks like an abstract Christmas tree (only 72 days left guys, hang in there!).

The tree of light or Ganglion cells expressing fluorescent proteins in a mouse retina by Dr. Keunyoung Kim.

Dr. Kif Liakath-Ali's: Nerves (in green) under the skin of a mouse (hair follicles are shown in red and blue). Clearly inspired by Van Gogh.

And some information about the constest: The Nikon International Small World Competition first began in 1974 as a means to recognize and applaud the efforts of those involved with photography through the light microscope. Since then, Small World has become a leading showcase for photomicrographers from the widest array of scientific disciplines.