The most incredible microscope images of 2016 reveal a beautiful, hidden universe

Red speckled jewel beetle

Eyes of a jumping spider

Slime mold

Zebrafish fin

Glycerin-based soapy solution

Ammonite shell

Zooplankton carefully arranged by hand in Victorian style

Microcrystal test for oxycodone

Tiger beetle and a scale of the forester moth

Human HeLa cell undergoing cell division

Head of a skinbow zebrafish larvae

Copper crystals

Human brain cells differentiated from embryonic stem cells

Fungus growing on cow dung

Scales of a butterfly wing

Mouse hand showing veins

Tintinnid ciliate of a marine plankton from the Indian Ocean

The prolegs of a hairy caterpillar gripping a small branch

Head of an orange ladybird

Ant pupae

Fossil diatom composed of 20 individual photos

Mullein flower

Green bottle fly

Flow currents generated by an eight-week-old starfish larva

Butterfly scales

Algae

Air bubbles in evaporating tequila

Rubber coated with a thin glass

Beta-alanine and taurine crystals

Cultured fat cells from a grizzly bear

Deep sea crustacean

Mouse retinal ganglion cells

Mouse retina, laid flat

A daisy's central disc pattern of tiny unopened flowers

Espresso coffee crystals

Black elder tree flower stamen

Spore capsule of a moss

Tail of a small shrimp

Cross section of a lily of the valley

Brain matter of a transgenic mouse in 3D

Testis of a fruit fly

Mosquito larva

Section of the cerebellum in a brain

Surface of embryonic mouse kidney

Barley stem cross section

Leaves of a lesser club moss

Crystals of salicin, a painkiller, extracted from Willow tree bark

Seeds of an Indian Paintbrush wildflower

Curvepod fumewort seed

Egg of a Gulf Fritillary butterfly

Caudal gill of a dragonfly larva

Air bubbles formed from melted ascorbic acid crystals

Leg of a water boatman

Polished slab of Teepee Canyon agate

A Frontonia cell showing ingested food, cilia, mouth, and trichocysts

Algae cells

Water mite

Cerebellum brain section of a rat

Hippocampal brain slice

Midge flies

Goatsbeard flower seeds

Poison fangs of a centipede

Cross-section of reinforced carbon-fiber

Young flower buds of Arabidopsis, a flowering plant

Early stages of mouse embryos

Section of stem of a plant specimen

Robber fly

Viperfish

Crystals of diclofenac (also called Zorvolex), a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug

Four-day-old zebrafish embryo

Oreina cacaliae

Butterfly proboscis

Wasp eyes

3D picture of moving vesicles

Wildflower stamens

Wildflower stamens

Front foot of a male diving beetle

Inside of a humped bladderwort, a freshwater carnivorous plant

Gear-like hind legs of a planthopper nymph

Scales of a butterfly wing underside

Section of a begonia flower

Jurinea mollis seed

Dahlia flower section

Leaves of a liverwort plant

Casuarina seed

Trumpet animalcule an endosymbionts

Diatoms

Hippocampal neurons

Jellyfish

Galls of a mite and fungus on the surface of a scarlet firethorn plant

Ant leg