About

What’s cooler than the intersection of awesome art and serious science? For more than a decade, the Olympus BioScapes Competition celebrated some of the world’s most amazing images of life’s wonders as seen through microscopes. Take a look at the Gallery and enjoy some extraordinary images and videos of the natural world. Then share links to the images you like best with your friends and colleagues.

The Olympus BioScapes Competition was widely recognized as the world’s foremost showcase for outstanding images and movies of life science subjects captured through light microscopes. Researchers and microscope enthusiasts from about 70 countries submitted nearly 2500 still images and movies to our competition each year. The beauty, power and importance of science as portrayed by these incredible images and movies captivated this year’s panel of judges and is delighting viewers worldwide.

On this website, in addition to viewing our image galleries, you can download screensavers, get more information on your favorite images and movies.

While the Olympus BioScapes Competition was retired in 2014, we continue to call the world’s attention to the fascinating stories being told through images and movies captured by professional and amateur scientists the world over through our Global Image of the Year Competition. Visit the new competition’s page at Olympus-LifeScience.com/IOTY to view the details and to submit your own entries.