Photos of the Day: Microworlds

Humped, or Creeping, Bladderwort (Utricularia gibba) (click to enlarge), First Place in the Olympus BioScapes Imaging Competition (2013). Image Source: Igor Siwanowicz, HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus, Ashburn, VA via NPR.

For today, a glimpse of tiny worlds! Above, see the fantastic First Prize winner of the Olympus BioScapes Imaging Competition. This is a digital microscopic photo, taken by Igor Siwanowicz, of the "[o]pen trap of aquatic carnivorous plant, humped bladderwort (Utricularia gibba). The floating plant digests microinvertebrates that are sucked into its trap a millisecond after they touch its trigger hairs." NPR explains how Siwanowicz took the picture:

Igor Siwanowicz, a neurobiologist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus ... magnified the plant 100 times using a laser scanning confocal microscope and used cellulose-binding fluorescent dye Calcofluor White to visualize the cell walls of the plant.

Siwanowicz's personal gallery of microscopic photos is here; the gallery has an e-card function, in case you need to scare (or delight) your friends over the holidays.

The Humped Bladderwort to the naked eye. Image Source:  Go Botany.

Directly below, see more microimages from Igor Siwanowicz.

Two male African mantis Pseudempusa pinnapavonis square off. Image Source: Igor Siwanowicz via HuffPo.

"A Giant Malaysian Shield Mantis cleans its tarsus (the last segment of an arthropodís leg) in Igor's home studio in Munich, Germany." Image Source: Igor Siwanowicz via HuffPo.

Desmids (a type of algae). Image Source: Igor Siwanowicz.

Cross section of a Juncus sp. leaf (a type of rush grass). Image Source: Igor Siwanowicz.
Below the jump, see more winners and honourable mentions from the Olympus BioScapes competition. The images are taken from the Olympus BioScapes 2013 Winners Gallery. All images here are copyrighted by the original photographers and are reproduced under Fair Use for non-commercial discussion and review only.

Second Place: Miss Dorit Hockman University of Oxford Oxfordshire, United Kingdom; Specimen: Embryo of black mastiff bat Molossus rufus. Technique: Stereo microscopy.

Third Place: Dr. Igor Siwanowicz HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus Ashburn, Virginia, United States; Specimen: Single-cell fresh water algae (desmids). Composite image including, concentric from the outside: Micrasterias rotata, Micrasterias sp., M. furcata, M. americana, 2x M. truncata, Euastrum sp. and Cosmarium sp. Technique: Confocal imaging, 400x.

Fourth Place: Mr. Spike Walker Staffordshire, United Kingdom; Specimen: Lily flower bud, transverse section. Technique: Darkfield illumination, stitched images.

Honourable Mention: Dr. Nicolás Cuenca University of Alicant Alicante, Spain; Specimen: Monkey retina. The main retinal cell types and their complex connectivity are visible; multiple layers of interconnected neurons in this thin slab of neural tissue handle the first stages of vision. Cones and rods, which absorb light, are the green, elongated cells forming the top layer. Technique: Confocal imaging.

Honourable Mention: Mr. Geir Drange Asker, Norway; Specimen: Ant pupae in different stages (genus Myrmica). The two rightmost pupae both have a parasitic mite on the antenna. Technique: Reflected light, stacked images.

Honourable Mention: Dr. John Dolan CNRS/University of Paris, Zoologic Station Villefranche-sur-Mer, France; Specimen: Rhizoplegma boreale, a radiolarian from the Antarctic. This microscopic grazer traps prey using psuedopods running along its spiked arms. The star-shapped organism in the background is a silicoflagellate (phytoplankton, plant-like cell). Technique: Image stack, differential interference contrast, 20x objective.

Honourable Mention: Mr. Tyler Hickman Tufts University School of Medicine Boston, Massachusetts, United States; Specimen: Mouse organ of Corti, part of the inner ear. Technique: Confocal imaging.

Honourable Mention: Mr. Laurie Knight Maidstone, Kent, United Kingdom; Specimen: Long-legged fly. Technique: Epi-illumination.

Honourable Mention: Dr. David Maitland Feltwell, Norfolk, United Kingdom; Specimen: Cocoa nut palm (Cocos comosa) stem with xylem vessel "eyes" in vascular bundle "faces." Technique: Differential interference contrast.

Honourable Mention: Mr. David Millard Austin, Texas, United States; Specimen: Great purple hairstreak butterfly (Atlides halesus) body scales. Technique: Reflected light, 20x.

Honourable Mention: Dr. Jan Michels Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany; Specimen: Front part of a female copepod (Centropages hamatus), ventral view. Technique: Confocal microscopy with fluorescence and autofluorescence, 10x.

Honourable Mention: Mr. Jacek Myslowski Wloclawek, Poland; Specimen: Testudinella, a type of rotifer. Technique: Differential interference contrast, 500x.

Honourable Mention: Dr. Igor Siwanowicz HHMI Janelia Farm Research Campus Ashburn, Virginia, United States; Specimen: Rotifers around a single-cell green alga (desmid Staurastrum sexangulare). Technique: Confocal imaging, magnification 400x.

Honourable Mention: Ahmad Salehi, MD, PhD Stanford University/VA Palo Alto Health Care System Palo Alto, California, United States; Specimen: Mouse brain, hippocampal region. Technique: Brightfield.

Honourable Mention: Mrs. Magdalena Turzańska University of Wrocław Poland; Specimen: Lepidozia reptans (pinnately branched leafy liverwort). Technique: Autofluorescence with z-stack reconstruction, magnification 250x.

Honourable Mention: Dr. Andrew Woolley and Dr. Aaron Gilmour University of New South Wales Randwick, Australia; Specimen: Complex cell culture based on mouse embryonic brain cells. Technique: Confocal imaging, 200x.