"Neurons in an expanded mouse brain" (3rd place) is also stunning:<p><a href="https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2026-photomicrography-competition/neurons-in-an-expanded-mouse-brain" rel="nofollow">https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2026-photomicrogra...</a><p>I didn't know brains actually look like this inside. Our world truly is beautiful, across all scales!
Check out some early drawings by Santiago Ramon j Cajal;
<a href="https://daily.jstor.org/cajal-imagining-the-brain/" rel="nofollow">https://daily.jstor.org/cajal-imagining-the-brain/</a> (late 1800s)
i'm not an expert but i think the word expansion here is referring to techniques they use to spread everything out in order to make it easier to see. someone told me that they use the same material that baby diapers are made out of which expands when you soak it in water.
Yes, sodium polyacrylate is used in both expansion microscopy and baby diapers.<p>However you also need a few other ingredients to ensure isotropic expansion, or otherwise the expanded sample isn't scaled uniformly in all axis and you get a skewed view of the sample.
Where is the KV Cache in this pic?
It’s a great photo, but the second-place jumping spider is my favorite: it is just so adorable.<p><a href="https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2026-photomicrography-competition/jumping-spider-salticus-scenicus-with-pollen" rel="nofollow">https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2026-photomicrogra...</a>
The parasitoid wasp doing its little dance move [1] gave me a chuckle.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2026-photomicrography-competition/a-parasitoid-wasp-conura-sp-emerging-from-a-butterfly-chrysalis-opsiphanes-sp" rel="nofollow">https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2026-photomicrogra...</a>
This pic reminds me of the Children of Time series of novels
I will never moan again about having pollen in my eyes during hayfever season.
I have hard time accepting this is a real image. Do pollen really look like that?!
Yeesh that is creepy.
It is! What are the little balls, are they pollen?
Holy moly, I love it
Is it so adorable because of the eyes? I don't think spiders have pupils. That effect seems to be a reflection of the camera/lens/apparatus taking the picture, rather than the actual spider.
There is an interesting video of his rig for this shot in this article: <a href="https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/masters-of-microscopy/ole-bielfeldt" rel="nofollow">https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/masters-of-microscopy/ole-bi...</a>
basically: some aluminum extrusion for structure, some linear actuators for adjusting the position, and a nice camera with a nice objective. Plus he took apart the printer to get the sample in frame and controllable.
The video is nice but the movement is inverted from the photo.<p>I would like to redo the setup myself.
I always try to convine my comments to the content of the article, but the captcha here has gone beyond all sense. It's presenting gen AI images of household items and asking me to identify e.g. the curtains... To prove that I'm human. It's literally a game of "guess what was in the prompt that generated this"... To prove that I'm human.
The same photographer has two other photographs[^1] which previously were ranked highly in the contest. All seem to focus on chemical reactions and are stunning.<p>Interestingly, the previous two—of a candle and match—used 2.5x magnification, where as this one required 20x magnification, which just goes to show as to how tiny the printer mechanics really are.<p>[^1]: <a href="https://nikonsmallworld.com/people/ole-bielfeldt" rel="nofollow">https://nikonsmallworld.com/people/ole-bielfeldt</a>
Interesting, the Match Strike (2nd place in 2023) seems counter intuitive to me. The flames are leading the match with the following edge clearly visible.<p>When I first saw his inkjet shot I refused to believe it wasn't completely CGI. So, I take it there is a degree of artistic freedom to compose a shot that may not be indicative of the actual subject? Then the line is drawn with AI enhancement?
When I first saw this photo I refused to believe it was real. This is just so otherworldly, it's fantastic.
When you look at those globs of ink hanging from the print head, you start wondering how anything ever gets printed cleanly...
Inkjet printers for their faults are some of the most insane technology that I can think of.
Yep, the entire field of MEMS is both outlandishly complex and fascinating. For those who are curious, take a quick look at <a href="https://courses.washington.edu/me557/nthu/mems.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://courses.washington.edu/me557/nthu/mems.pdf</a>, which gives a nice overview of the different mechanisms and manufacturing processes involved.
There are some awesome macro videos he made during printing as well: <a href="https://x.com/macrofying/status/2112904628509528219" rel="nofollow">https://x.com/macrofying/status/2112904628509528219</a>
Source: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50204697">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50204697</a>
This winning photo looks like a modern demoscene production!
“Ole Bielfeldt’s winning image embodies what makes Nikon Small World so powerful…”<p>PR speak is so awful. You made it a whole seven words without talking about yourself, congratulations.
Thanks for sharing - what an incredible perspective on the mundane. Seriously seems like peering into an alien world and really it's just what's happen while someone sips their coffee and stares at a wall haha.<p>Anyone seen Thirteenth Floor that old 90s VR movie? Really reminds me of the power for that.
I truly thought this photo was AI, wow!
Looks like this is the instragram page of the photographer for the inkjet photo.<p>It's very obviously not a standard inkjet printer setup, but if you poke around you'll see some custom rigs that make it come together.
Pollen (second photo with the spider) looks so sinister!
I've been seeing this photo all over the place recently.
It would be funny if it was a Canon printer. Their quality and reliability are another league.
Next, I would like him to visualize the "macro" economy side of things too.
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