Biology can be fascinating at any scale, but the most intriguing aspects are often the ones we can't see without the aid of a microscope. Plants, animals, microbes, and even humans are completely alien, sometimes strange, and almost always beautiful this close up. This year's winners of the ninth annual Olympus Bioscapes Digital Imaging Competition are simply stunning. Every time I think I've seen the most amazing microscope images, a new crop comes along to prove me wrong. The top ten images and videos were chosen from nearly 2,000 entries from 62 countries. The first place winner is Ralph Grimm, a teacher from Australia who made the video above of a colony of microscopic rotifers from a lily pad in his pond. It is the first video to win the competition. Above: 1st Place Ralph Grimm, Jimboomba, Queensland, Australia Subject: Colonial rotifers showing eyespots and corona. Technique: Differential interference contrast microscopy Magnification: 200x - 500x Image: Ralph Grimm / Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®

2nd Place Arlene Wechezak, Anacortes,WA Subject: Red algae Scagelia, showing reproductive tetraspores and golden diatoms. Technique: Darkfield Image: Arlene Wechezak / Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®

3rd Place Igor Siwanowicz, HHMI, Ashburn,VA Subject: A common East coast U.S. fern, Polypodium virginianum, showing a cluster of spore-filled sporangia and specialized protective hairs called paraphyses. Technique: Confocal microscopy Image: Igor Siwanowicz / Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®

4th Place Christian Sardet and Sharif Mirshak, The Plankton Chronicles Project, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada Subject: Claw of the crustacean amphipode Phronima sp., Muscles and rows of pigment cells (melanocytes) are visible. Image: Christian Sardet and Sharif Mirshak / Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®

5th Place Rogelio Moreno Gill, Panamá City, Panama Subject: Unicellular green alga Micrasterias from lake sample. Technique: 22 stacked images, differential interference contrast Image: Rogelio Moreno Gill / Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®

6th Place James Nicholson, NOAA/NOS/NCCOS Center for Coastal Environmental Health & Biomolecular Research, Fort Johnson Marine Lab, Charleston, SC Subject: Live mushroom coral Fungia sp., close-up of mouth during expansion. Technique: Tungsten illumination; the green color is bright autofluorescence Image: James Nicholson / Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®

7th Place Christian Klämbt and Imke Schmidt, University of Münster, Münster, Germany Subject: Beta-tubulin expression of a Drosophila third instar larval brain, with attached eye imaginal discs. Technique: Confocal microscopy Image: Christian Klämbt and Imke Schmidt / Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®

8th Place Edwin Lee, Carrollton, TX Subject: Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) stamens anthers and filaments. Henbit is an annual plant that is sometimes regarded as a weed. The stamens is the male reproductive part of the flower. During pollination, pollen from the anthers is carried by wind or insects to the stigma of the pistil of another flower, where fertilization takes place. Technique: Phase contrast illumination Magnification: 100x Image: Edwin Lee / Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®

9th Place Sahar Khodaverdi, University of Tabriz,Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, Iran Subject: Seed of Delphinium. Technique: Multiple Z- stacked images, epi-fluorescence Image: Sahar Khodaverdi / Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®