Many thanks to friend and loyal reader Hal who sent me some great stuff this week!

Today, in honor of Earth Day 2020, we’re looking at the Olympus Life Science Image of the Year awards. This isn’t your typical photography contest; instead, this one is a competition for light microscopy. In other words, tiny things under great magnification in glorious colors. These are some of the most remarkable views of Mother Earth I’ll bet you’ve never seen.

You can check out all the award winners on the Olympus Life Science Image of the Year website and on Instagram.

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Watch this #video to see the full picture of the 2019 Global Image of the Year Award winner by Ainara Pintor from Spain. This stunning fluorescence image shows the immunostaining of Thy1-EGFP mouse brain slice with two fluorophores. When talking about her award-winning image, Pintor explains, “There are over 70 million neurons in a mouse brain. This is an example of what we can observe in the hippocampus of a single brain slice, in this case, taken from Thy1 transgenic mice.” #science #microscopy #microscopicworld #microbiology #microscopes #olympus #competition #photographycompetition #lifescience #biology #brain #neurology #nature #science #research #objective #scientists #sciart #microscopeimages #photomicrograph #🔬

A post shared by Olympus Life Science (@olympuslifescience) on Apr 2, 2020 at 9:01am PDT

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#REPOST Any guesses what kind of organism this is? #HINT Most of this species are found inhabiting freshwater. Credit: Jan Michels #olympus #bioscapes #sciart #microscopy #confocal #microscope #micro #microscopic #microscopes #nature #science #organism #water #freshwater #cells #development #research #optics #imaging #objective #photooftheday #photomicrograph #🔬

A post shared by Olympus Life Science (@olympuslifescience) on Apr 17, 2020 at 11:00am PDT

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Also known as thale cress or mouse-ear cress, this #microscope capture shows inflorescence of arabidopsis thaliana with young, developing flower buds expressing a fluorescent reporters. Credit: Nat Prunet @natstagramme | 2019 Global Image of the Year Honorable Mention #science #microscopy #microscopicworld #microbiology #microscopes #olympus #competition #photographycompetition #lifescience #biology #nature #science #research #objective #scientists #sciart #microscopeimages #photomicrograph #flower #buds #flourescent #🔬

A post shared by Olympus Life Science (@olympuslifescience) on Apr 13, 2020 at 11:00am PDT

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Who else is mesmerized by the vibrant colors in this #microscope image!? In this image, nuclei (red) and microtubules (green) highlight the neurons of the brain. Credit: Martin Hailstone, 2019 Global Image of the Year Award Honorable Mention #science #microscopy #microscopicworld #microbiology #microscopes #olympus #photographycompetition #lifescience #biology #nature #science #research #objective #scientists #sciart #microscopeimages #photomicrograph #neuron #neuro #brain #🔬

A post shared by Olympus Life Science (@olympuslifescience) on Apr 8, 2020 at 11:00am PDT

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We're switching up our traditional #microscope content with an aerial shot of a rocky coastline….. April Fools! What you're actually looking at is a #microscope image of green gem material and prase opal attached to the iron sandstone host rock. This image was captured by Nathan Renfro from the U.S.A. @microworldofgems and was an honorable mention in this year's Global Image of the Year competition. #science #microscopy #microscopicworld #microbiology #microscopes #olympus #competition #photographycompetition #lifescience #biology #nature #beach #gems #rocks #science #research #objective #scientists #sciart #microscopeimages #photomicrograph #aprilfools #🔬

A post shared by Olympus Life Science (@olympuslifescience) on Apr 1, 2020 at 9:02am PDT

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This #microscope image of an insect's wing was titled “a road in the sky”, because veins look like roads and spines on wing membrane are like stars. Credit: Hamed Rajabi | 2019 Global Image of the Year Award Honorable Mention #science #microscopy #microscopicworld #microbiology #microscopes #olympus #competition #photographycompetition #lifescience #biology #nature #science #research #objective #scientists #sciart #microscopeimages #photomicrograph #insect #wing #🔬

A post shared by Olympus Life Science (@olympuslifescience) on Apr 20, 2020 at 11:00am PDT