Thursday, April 2, 2026

What scientific photos are hard to believe but are indeed real?

 Any one from the Nikon Small World Photography Competition

The competition has been going on for 50+ years now, but here are the 10 most recent winners (as of April 2026)

2016: A four-day-old zebra fish embryo

2017: Immortalized human skin cells expressing fluorescently tagged keratin

2018: Eye of a Metapocyrtus subquadrulifer beetle

2019: A Fluorescent turtle embryo

2020: Dorsal view of bones and scales (blue) and lymphatic vessels (orange) in a juvenile zebrafish

2021: Trichome (white appendages) and stomata (purple pores) on a southern live oak leaf

2022: Embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko

2023: Rodent optic nerve head

2024: Mouse brain tumor cells

2025: Rice weevil on a grain of rice