Industries in Depth

These are some of the world's smallest objects, magnified

Depth-color coded projections of three stentors (single-cell freshwater protozoans)

Single-cell organisms show their beauty up-close. Image: Igor Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World

Sean Fleming
Senior Writer, Forum Agenda
Share:
Our Impact
What's the World Economic Forum doing to accelerate action on Industries in Depth?
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Media, Entertainment and Sport is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
Stay up to date:

Social Media

Small is beautiful, as winners of this Nikon International Small World competition prove.

First prize in the 2019 Photomicrography Competition went to a picture of a fluorescent turtle embryo taken by Teri Zgoda and Teresa Kugler from New York. The pair used a technique called image stitching to make a composite from hundreds of images.

Have you read?
Fluorescent turtle embryo, Stereomicroscopy, Fluorescence
The winning picture Image: Teri Zgoda and Teresa Kugler/Nikon Small World

“We are inspired by the beautiful images we see through the microscope,” Zgoda said. “It’s humbling and deeply fulfilling to be able to share that science with other people.”

Second prize went to Dr Igor Siwanowicz for his “depth-colour coded projections of three stentors (single-cell freshwater protozoans)”. Stentors, also known as trumpet animalcules, are filter-feeding ciliates – creatures with hair-like appendages called cilia. Although they are undoubtedly tiny, at around two millimetres in length, these stentors are some of the largest single-cell organisms.

Depth-color coded projections of three stentors (single-cell freshwater protozoans)
Depth-color coded projections of three stentors (single-cell freshwater protozoans) Image: Dr Igor Siwanowicz/Nikon Small World

Third place went to Daniel Smith Paredes and Dr Bhart-Anjan S Bhullar. Their photograph of an alligator embryo shows the creature’s skeleton and nerves forming.

Alligator embryo developing nerves and skeleton
An alligator embryo developing nerves and skeleton Image: Daniel Smith Paredes and Dr Bhart-Anjan S Bhullar/Nikon Small World

If you’ve ever had the feeling that someone is watching you, the sixth-placed photo might unnerve you. It shows a small white hair spider in stunning close-up.

Small white hair spider
A small white hair spider Image: Javier Rupérez/Nikon Small World

Or this extreme close-up of the eye of a housefly.

Housefly compound eye pattern
A housefly's compound eye pattern Image: Dr Razvan Cornel Constantin/Nikon Small World

This photo might look like something on a cosmic scale, but is actually the stamen of a flower.

Chinese red carnation stamen
A Chinese red carnation stamen Image: Dr Guillermo López/Nikon Small World

If you like the magic of the microscopic, you’ll probably appreciate this photo of a frozen droplet of water.

Frozen water droplet
A frozen water droplet Image: Garzon Christian/Nikon Small World

Or perhaps this architectural-looking close-up of some cuprite — copper oxide.

Cuprite (mineral composed of copper oxide)
Cuprite, a mineral composed of copper oxide. Image: Dr Emilio Carabajal Márquez/Nikon Small World

The top 20 are exhibited at museums and science centers across North America.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Related topics:
Industries in DepthNature and Biodiversity
Share:
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

Why having low-carbon buildings also makes financial sense

Guy Grainger

September 18, 2024

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum