Every year, Nikon brings us some amazing microscope photos from its annual competition. This year's winners include images of a dinosaur bone, a microchip, a mouse nerve and HeLa cells. We're never disappointed with the photos from the Nikon Small World contest, and the top 20 judges picks contained in this gallery suggest that the photographers just keep getting better. These photos were selected from more than 2,000, but if you disagree with the judges, you can still pick your favorite in the popular vote contest throughout October. Above: 1st Place Photomicrographer: Igor Siwanowicz, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Germany

Specimen: Chrysopa sp. (green lacewing) larva (20x) Technique: Confocal Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

2nd Place Photomicrographer: Donna Stolz, University of Pittsburgh, United States Specimen: Blade of grass (200x) Technique: Confocal stack reconstruction, autofluorescence Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

3rd Place Photomicrographer: Frank Fox, Fachhochschule Trier, Germany Specimen: Melosira moniliformis, living specimen (320X) Technique: Differential interference contrast Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

4th Place Photomicrographer: Robin Young, University of British Columbia, Canada Specimen: Intrinsic fluorescence in Lepidozia reptans (liverwort) (20X) Technique: Live mount, confocal microscopy Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

5th Place Photomicrographer: Alfred Pasieka, Germany Specimen: Microchip surface, 3D reconstruction (500X) Technique: Incident light, Normarski interference contrast Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

6th Place Photomicrographer: Dennis Callahan, California Institute of Technology, United States Specimen: Cracked gallium arsenide solar cell films (50X) Technique: Brightfield Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

7th Place Photomicrographer: Gabriel Luna, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States Specimen: Retinal flatmount of mouse nerve fiber layer (40X) Technique: Laser confocal scanning Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

8th Place Photomicrographer: Bernardo Cesare, Department of Geosciences, Padova, Italy Specimen: Graphite-bearing granulite from Kerala, India (2.5X) Technique: Polarized light Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

9th Place Photomicrographer: Jan Michels, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany Specimen: Temora longicornis (marine copepod), ventral view (10X) Technique: Confocal, autofluorescence and Congo red fluorescence Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

10th Place Photomicrographer: Joan Röhl, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Germany Specimen: Daphnia magna (freshwater water flea) (100X) Technique: Differential interference contrast Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

11th Place Photomicrographer: Jan Michels, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany Specimen: Ant head, frontal view (10X) Technique: Confocal, autofluorescence Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

12th Place Photomicrographer: Thomas Deerinck

National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, United States Specimen: HeLa (cancer) cells (300X) Technique: 2-Photon fluorescence Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

13th Place Photomicrographer: Dr. Stephen S. Nagy

Montana Diatoms, United States Specimen: Curare vine in cross-section, Chondrodendron tomentosum (45X) Technique: Brightfield, digitally inverted Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

14th Place Photomicrographer: Yanping Wang, Beijing Planetarium, China Specimen: Sand (4X) Technique: Reflected light Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

15th Place Photomicrographer: James H. Nicholson, Coral Culture and Collaborative Research Facility, United States Specimen: Porites lobata (lobe coral), live specimen displaying tissue pigmentation response with red fluorescence (12X) Technique: Epifluorescence with triple band (U/B/G) excitation Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

16th Place Photomicrographer: Christopher Guérin,

VIB (Flanders Institute of Biotechnology), Belgium Specimen: Cultured cells growing on a bio-polymer scaffold (63X) Technique: Confocal Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

17th Place Photomicrographer: Dr. Witold Kilarski, EPFL-Laboratory of Lymphatic and Cancer Bioengineering, Switzerland Specimen: Litomosoides sigmodontis (filaria worms) inside lymphatic vessels of the mouse ear (150X) Technique: Fluorescent confocal microscopy Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

18th Place Photomicrographer: Benjamin Blonder, David Elliott, University of Arizona, United States Specimen: Venation network of young Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen) leaf (4X) Technique: Brightfield image of safranin-stained tissue Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World

19th Place Photomicrographer: Donna Stolz, University of Pittsburgh, United States Specimen: Mammalian cell collage stained for various proteins and organelles, assembled into a wreath (200-2000X) Technique: Single slice confocal cell mosaic Image: Courtesy of Nikon Small World