Nikon recently announced the winners of the 2012 Small World Photomicrography Competition, with this year’s top honors going to Dr. Jennifer Peters and Dr. Michael Taylor of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Their photomicrograph, “The blood-brain barrier in a live zebrafish embryo” is believed to be the first-ever image showing the formation of the blood-brain barrier in a live animal.
Here are a selection of some of The Daily Beast's favourites from this fascinating competion.

1st Place
Dr. Jennifer L. Peters and Dr. Michael R. Taylor
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Memphis, Tennessee USA
The blood-brain barrier in a live zebrafish embryo
Confocal
20x

2nd Place
Walter Piorkowski
South Beloit, Illinois, USA
Live newborn lynx spiderlings
Reflected Light, Fiber Optics, Image Stacking
6x

9th Place
Geir Drange
Asker, Norway
Myrmica sp. (ant) carrying its larva
Reflected Light, Image Stacking
5x

20th Place
Dorit Hockman
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, United Kingdom
Embryos of the species Molossus rufus (black mastiff bat)
Brightfield

Honorable Mention
Geir Drange
Asker, Norway
Two ants of different genus meeting on a twig
Reflected Light, Image Stacking
2.5x

Honorable Mention
Dr. Terue Kihara
Senckenberg am Meer, German Center for Marine Biodiversity Research (DZMB)
Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Pontostratiotes sp., female, dorsal view. A deep-sea copepod collected in the southeastern Atlantic at a depth of 5395m.
Confocal

Honorable Mention
Dr. Donna Beer Stolz
Department of Cell Biology
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Moth antenna
Confocal Stack Reconstruction of Autofluorescence
100x

Image of Distinction
Harold Taylor
Kensworth, Dunstable, United Kingdom
House spider
Image Stacking
30x

Image of Distinction
Dr. David Maitland
www.davidmaitland.com Macro
Feltwell, United Kingdom
Male Culex pipiens (mosquito)
Reflected (Episcopic) Diffuse Illumination
10x

Image of Distinction
Ian Gardiner
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Holopedium gibberum (water flea), live specimen
Darkfield
50x