Maybe it’s the tip of a ballpoint pen. Or perhaps it’s a spider crab’s eye, mid-blink. Or could it be a black pearl in the first few weeks of formation?
The image above – like every image in this year’s Nikon Small World photo competition – brings the same initial scrutiny: what is that? (The answer is at the bottom of the article, alongside the answers for all the images you’ll see below.)
The biggest microscopy competition in science has just announced its winners for 2026, honouring the world’s most remarkable images captured through the microscope. Together, they make the familiar look unfamiliar and fascinating.
Can you guess what you’re looking at?
Photo 1
Is it: a) a sample of sea water after an oil spill; b) a cross-section of a meteorite; c) a sea snail shell?
Photo by Justin Theodore Benttinen/Nikon Small World
Photo 2
Is it: a) a cross-section of a mouse’s eye; b) a cross-section of a beetroot; c) some sea kelp?
Photo by Satu Paavonsalo & Dr. Sinem Karaman/Nikon Small World
Photo 3
Is it: a) the neurons inside a mouse’s brain; b) a mix of old and new cobwebs; c) some sea kelp?
Photo by Bilal Akhtar/Nikon Small World
Photo 4
Is it: a) a thermal camera image of coral; b) a mouse embryo at day 20; c) some lab-grown human intestinal tissue?
Photo by Dr. Gauri Kulkarni & NA/Nikon Small World
Photo 5
Is it: a) some frog skin; b) some sea kelp spores; c) hair cells from a zebrafish?
Photo by Pierre Nouaux & Laurent Kodjabachian, Camille Boutin/Nikon Small World
Photo 6
Is it: a) a section of an earthworm’s body; b) a mouse’s trachea; c) a cross-section of a roasted chestnut?
Photo by Dr. Julien Resseguier/Nikon Small World
Photo 7
Is it: a) fungi growing on sheep poo; b) a poppy bulb; c) some sea kelp?
Photo by Mike Crutchley/Nikon Small World
Photo 8
Is it: a) a film of liquid crystal cooling; b) oestrogen in polarised light; c) a fish scale in polarised light?
Photo by Sebastian Sparenga/Nikon Small World
Photo 9
Is it: a) a juvenile jellyfish; b) sea snail larva; c) sea urchin larva?
Photo by Svenja Carolin Kling/Nikon Small World
Photo 10
Is it: a) a bed bug leaving its host; b) a shrimp emerging from its own shell; c) a tardigrade moulting and laying an egg in the old skin?
Photo by Dr. Gonzalo Quiroga Artigas/Nikon Small World
Photo 11
Is it: a) a cicada nymph and its discarded skin; b) a wasp emerging from a butterfly chrysalis; c) a young locust chewing on a sycamore seed?
Photo by Michael Parra Puentes/Nikon Small World
Photo 12
Is it: a) a cell within the liver; b) a starfish egg; c) a cross-section of a mouse’s eye?
Photo by Dr. Francisco Lázaro-Diéguez/Nikon Small World
Photo 13
Is it: a) pencil lead being exposed to electrical discharge; b) the stylus of a record player touching a vinyl record; c) a match head being struck and igniting?
Photo by Dr. Marcel Clemens/Nikon Small World
Photo 14
Is it: a) some sea kelp; b) human neurons created from skin cells; c) lab-grown human intestinal tissue?
Photo by Dr. Bruno Cisterna & Dr. Eric Vitriol/Nikon Small World
Photo 15
Is it: a) stretched molten sugar droplets; b) some sea kelp buds; c) slime mould spores?
Photo by Eric Epstein/Nikon Small World
Photo 16
Is it: a) an ear of corn in the early stages of development; b) a young sunflower head; c) inside a closed daisy?
Fifth place – photo by Mike Crutchley/Nikon Small World
Photo 17
Is it: a) the tip of a ballpoint pen; b) a spider crab’s eye, mid-blink; c) a black pearl in the first few weeks of formation?
Fourth place – photo by Justin Theodore Benttinen/Nikon Small World
Photo 18
Is it: a) the interior of a fibre-optic lamp; b) neurons in a mouse’s brain; c) a sea kelp forest in night vision?
Third place – photo by Kaelin Wulf & Ms. Rachel Flannery/Nikon Small World
Photo 19
Is it: a) a spider covered in pollen; b) an ear of corn in the early stages of development; c) a sprouting blueberry bush covered in pollen?
Second place – photo by John-Oliver Dum/Nikon Small World
Photo 20
Is it: a) white bread inside a toaster; b) an inkjet printer; c) a cross-section of some sea kelp?
Overall winner of Nikon Small World 2026 – photo by Ole Bielfeldt/Nikon Small World
Answers
- C – a sea snail shell
- A – a cross-section of a mouse’s eye
- A – the neurons inside a mouse’s brain
- C – some lab-grown human intestinal tissue
- A – some frog skin
- B – a mouse’s trachea
- A – fungi growing on sheep poo
- B – oestrogen in polarised light
- C – sea urchin larva
- C – a tardigrade moulting and laying an egg in the old skin
- B – a wasp emerging from a butterfly chrysalis
- A – a cell within the liver
- A – pencil lead being exposed to electrical discharge
- B – human neurons created from skin cells
- C – slime mould spores
- C – inside a closed daisy
- A – the tip of a ballpoint pen
- B – neurons in a mouse’s brain
- A – a spider covered in pollen
- B – an inkjet printer (overall winner)
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