# Nikon's Small World Contest **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 17, 2021, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikons-small-world-contest/950787 "2021-09-17T02:25:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikons-small-world-contest/950787/1 "2021-09-17T02:25:00Z")
Well, this is my new obsession. Science and photography mashed up together. The results of Nikon’s 47th annual [Small World](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/) photomicrography contest have been posted and they’re just incredible. The gallery features photos from this year, but also the winners from the past 47 years, each one more beautiful than the last. I can’t even begin to choose a favorite, but here are a couple from that I like just to give you an idea. [Thin slice of a meteorite](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2021-photomicrography-competition/thin-slice-of-a-meteorite) [![](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/images/photos/2021/Don-Komarechka-meteorite-slice2.jpg) ](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/images/photos/2021/Don-Komarechka-meteorite-slice2.jpg) [Sleeping cuckoo wasp](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2021-photomicrography-competition/sleeping-cuckoo-wasp-crysis-sp) [![](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/images/photos/2021/Thorben-Danke-Cuckoowasp.jpg) ](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/images/photos/2021/Thorben-Danke-Cuckoowasp.jpg) Which ones do you love? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikons-small-world-contest/950787/2 "2021-09-17T02:34:54Z")
Ooo… I like this one. Amino Acid Crystals. 18th place, 2018. [![](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/images/photos/2018/L_Glutamine_and_Beta_Alanine_10.jpg) ](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/images/photos/2018/L_Glutamine_and_Beta_Alanine_10.jpg) This one amuses me, Witchhazel, 17th place, 2015. [![](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/images/photos/2015/Maitland_Black_Witch_Hazel.jpg) ](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/images/photos/2015/Maitland_Black_Witch_Hazel.jpg) This one, too, Coral Sand, 18th place, 2012 (looks like it’s by the same guy, so I guess I’ve found a style I like): [![](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/images/photos/2012/18th-Maitland.jpg) ](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/images/photos/2012/18th-Maitland.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikons-small-world-contest/950787/3 "2021-09-17T02:37:06Z")
This one, too. 6th place, 2011, cracked gallium arsenide solar cell flims: [![](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/images/photos/2011/Entry_20203_Callahan_Dennis-Beautiful_Failures.jpg) ](https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/images/photos/2011/Entry_20203_Callahan_Dennis-Beautiful_Failures.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikons-small-world-contest/950787/4 "2021-09-17T02:55:42Z")
> [@SurrenderDorothy](#): > > but here are a couple from that Whoops, I missed the edit window and this should say “a couple from this year’s contest” And @pulykamell, I LOVE the coral sand. And all of them! ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2021, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikons-small-world-contest/950787/5 "2021-09-17T09:43:29Z")
These should be framed and mounted on a wall. mmm ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikons-small-world-contest/950787/6 "2021-09-20T02:32:39Z")
That witch hazel one is astounding. I’d bloody love it as part of a bedding set. That might sound like a mundane way to approach art but I have shit-all wall space, so it’s the easiest way for me to make art a part of my home. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikons-small-world-contest/950787/7 "2021-09-20T13:29:49Z")
Looks like stained glass, doesn’t it? It’s one of my favourite things to show geological laypeople, petrographic slides under polarized light. If you like the meteorite slice, then some keywords you will want to learn are “thin section” and “crossed polars”, combined with various meteorite or rock keywords. A Google Image Search for “[thin section achondrite](https://www.google.com/search?q=thin+section+achondrite&tbm=isch)”, “[thin section dunite](https://www.google.com/search?q=thin+section+dunite&tbm=isch)” or “[thin section peridotite](https://www.google.com/search?q=thin+section+peridotite&tbm=isch)”, for instance, would return a lot of similar images. [This is my favourite meteorite thin section](https://meteorites.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/Parnallee-1024x1024.jpg) (preview not working). ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikons-small-world-contest/950787/8 "2021-09-20T13:35:55Z")
Neither is the link (for me) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikons-small-world-contest/950787/9 "2021-09-20T14:12:08Z")
Mmmm, don’t know why, works for me. It’s the bottom pic on this page: [https://meteorites.asu.edu/tag/thin-section](https://meteorites.asu.edu/tag/thin-section) ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikons-small-world-contest/950787/10 "2021-09-20T15:31:24Z")
That one works for me…very pretty!