World Top 10 Microscopic Images

1: Diatom Rainbows
Sinewy filaments within squirming microscopic diatoms, a type of algae, are artificially rainbow hued as a result of being photographed through polarizing light filters.Captured by retired British microscopist Michael Stringer, the photo took top prize--and U.S. $3,000--in the 2008 Small World Photomicrography Competition, organizers announced on October 15. Sponsored by Nikon, the annual contest showcases "the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope."

2: Nanotube Factory

Glowing-hot carbon nanotubes form an expanding orange ball in this image by Paul Marshall of Canada's Institute for Microstructural Sciences, a winner in the 2008 Small World photomicrography competition. The nanotubes are elongated, hollow cylinders of carbon atoms. To make a carbon nanotube--just 1/50,000 the width of a human hair--a piece of carbon (graphite) must be heated, for example by lasers or electricity. And sometimes, Marshall says, the heated mass of nanotubes grows like a bulb in the spring.

3: Flower Power

Albert Tousson of the University of Alabama was recently testing a new laser microscope in his lab and put a petal of a lily of the valley under the lens, which magnified the petal 1,300 times--resulting in his winning photo in the 2008 Small World photomicrography competition. The enhanced color of the petal's red cell walls and green and yellow starch granules comes from the laser light, which causes molecules within these substances to fluoresce--the same phenomenon that gives objects under black lights an eerie glow.

4: Deprived Amoebas

Cell-therapy researcher Matthew Springer took this snapshot of growing amoebas--magnified a hundred times--as part of his postdoctoral research at Stanford University.Springer wanted to know whether these organisms, Dictyostelium discoideum, would continue to grow even when deprived of a crucial motor protein, myosin. He discovered that myosin is only needed for the first and final stages of the amoeba's development and that, in all stages between, myosin is like a candy bar after lunch--nice but not needed.

5: Paper Chase

Although it looks like a close-up of a bag of grass clippings, Charles Kazilek's laser microscopic image of Japanese paper reveals just how randomly ordered even some of the plainest things are--especially when magnified a hundred times.Kazilek studies both the art and science of fine papermaking at Arizona State University. Fluorescing as a result of the microscope's laser light, the "green" and "blue" fibers' compositions and structures are exposed.

6: Dancing on the Head of a Pin

Certain medieval theologians--who puzzled over how many angels could dance on the head of a pin--would have had a field day with this picture by retired entomologist Klaus Bolte of Canada.Evidently one, and only one, tiny leaf beetle can dance on this pin's head--the silvery circle in this 40 X photo. The beetle's rainbow colors, by the way, are all natural.

7: Interesting Drug

Kentucky cancer researcher Margaret Oechsli tinkers with microscopic photography. She recently put the antibiotic powder mitomycin under her lens, as shown in her winning entry in the Small World photo contest. Viewed through polarizing filters, the drug gave off colors that reveal its complex crystal structure.When pursuing photomicrography for pleasure, she said in a statement, "I am more interested in an artistic/abstract image" than in a substance's medicinal merit. "I always go for visual impact."

8: Swirling Dervish

Tabletop chemistry takes a photogenic turn in this winning microphotograph by John Hart of the University of Colorado, who specializes in fluid dynamics.Mixing sulfur, an organic blue dye, and an antiseptic, Hart created a crystal containing a complex structure of bubbles and fault lines.Illuminated with polarized light, the compound glows with green and salmon hues that give it the appearance of a palm thicket attacked by overzealous bugs.

9: Compact Discovery

Using polarized light and 5 X magnification, David Walker of Britain was able to coax a wide palette of colors from the center of an ordinary CD case. Walker enjoys "showing how common objects around the home can look extraordinary when studied under the microscope," he told the organizers of the 2008 Small World photo contest.

10: Sand Hopper

The sand hopper--a tiny, nocturnal beach crustacean native to New Zealand--is shown in its natural glory in this winner from the 2008 Small World Photomicrography Competition.Harold Taylor of the United Kingdom used a 10 X microscope--and no funny business. Taylor avoided "the stylized, false-color type of image which is so prevalent," he said in a statement.