You’ll Never Guess What This Is: Mysterious Microscope Photos

Floral Primordia of Garlic (Allium sativum)

Sometimes a closer look doesn't make things more clear. And at microscopic levels, even familiar things can become completely unrecognizable.

This selection of winning images from Nikon's annual Small World microscope photography contest contains some strange, mysterious and fascinating photos. We're betting you won't know what any of them are upon first glance.

They look like everything from brains to fish to candy. What are they really? To make things more interesting for you, we've hidden the answers. Once you've made your guess, click on the solution to see how close you were to the truth.

Above:

Somayeh Naghiloo, Department of Plant Biology, University of Tabriz, Iran Technique: Epi-Illumination



 Live Mouse Gut Organoid
Paul Appleton, College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, United Kingdom Technique: Confocal
Magnification: 850x



Radial Growth of Sensory Neurons
María Alejandra Lopez-Verrilli, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile Technique: Flourescence
Magnification: 850x



Butterfly Eggs on Mistletoe Leaf
David Millard, Austin, TX Technique: Diffuse Incident Illumination, Focus Stacking
Magnification: 6x



Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)
Rudolf Bauer, Nuremburg, Germany Technique: Polarized Light
Magnification: 4x



Mushroom Gills
Charles Krebs, Charles Krebs Photography, Issaquah, WA Technique: Transmitted Light
Magnification: 20x



Moth Antenna
Donna Beer Stolz, Department of Cell Biology, University of Pittsburgh, PA Technique: Confocal Stack Reconstruction of Autofluorescence
Magnification: 100x



Soap Bubbles
Haris Antonopoulos, Athens, Greece Technique: Brightfield and Polarized Light
Magnification: 10x



Butterfly Wing Scales
Oleg Kolesnikov, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Russian State Agrarian University – MTAA, Moscow, Russia Technique: Darkfield
Magnification: 75x



Spiral Vessels from an Orchid (Saccalabium)
David Linstead, Bromley, Kent, United Kingdom Technique: Differential Interference Contrast
Magnification: 30x


Seaweed (Acetabularia calyculus)
John Huisman, Western Australian Herbarium, Kensington, Australia Technique: Darkfield
Magnification: 100x


Emergence of Cholesteric Liquid Crystal from Isotropic Liquid
Ken Ishikwa, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan Technique: Polarized Light
Magnification: 25x


Caffeine Crystal
Stefan Eberhard, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, GA Technique: Polarized Light
Magnification: 25x


A Semiconductor Sample Thinned Down to Electron Transparency Using an Argon Plasma
Paul Simmonds, California NanoSystems Institute, Univeristy of California, Los Angeles Technique: Brightfield
Magnification: 50x


 Cacoxenite (mineral) from La Paloma Mine, Spain
Honorio Cócera, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain Technique: Transmitted Light
Magnification: 18x





Parasitic Wasp (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae)
Nikola Rahme, Budapest, Hungary Technique: Reflected light
Magnification: 21.2x



Filamentous Gliding Bacterium (Herpetosiphon aurantiacus)
Michael Shribak and Irina Arkhipova, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA Technique: Orientation-independent Differential Interference Contrast
Magnification: 40x



Butterfly Tongue
Philippe Verrees, Knokke, Belgium Technique: Rheinberg illumination
Magnification: 5x



Surface of Tanned Shark Skin
Tomasz Kozielec, Department of Paper and Leather Conservation, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland Technique: Reflected light
Magnification: 40x



Tongue of a Cricket (Gryllus campestris)
Christian Gautier, Vernafilm, Le Mans, Sarthe, France Technique: Darkfield and Rheinberg illumination
Magnification: 40x 

 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/nikon-small-world-mysterious-design/?pid=5213