Microscopic World Revealed in Nikon's Annual Video Competition
Cilia in a child's airway take top prize in the Small World In Motion contest.
The intricate and often unseen world of microscopic life has been showcased in Nikon's annual Small World In Motion competition, an international contest celebrating microscopic film and time-lapse photography. This year's first-place video, magnified 100 times, captured hair-like structures known as cilia in the airways of a child suffering from a rare genetic disease.
Dr. Ning Xu from Tsinghua University in China created the winning entry, employing sophisticated light wave techniques to imbue different sections of the sample with color. The competition also recognized other impressive submissions, including a video depicting a roundworm's encounter with a single-celled organism and microscopic jellyfish larvae suspended in water droplets. Among the highly commended entries were clips featuring bioluminescent algae and a diminutive sea slug.