In July, our most popular image was, quite literally, the star of the show. We’re thrilled each year when it’s time to announce the winners of our global scientific imaging competition, and seeing the winning images in our top image roundups always makes us happy. This month also boasts a beautiful selection of plants and animals, from spinach to cats and dogs.

It’s no surprise that our most popular image this month is this stunning image of the nervous system of a juvenile sea star (Patiria miniata). Captured by Laurent Formery from the United States, this image was selected as the global winner of our 2022 Image of the Year (IOTY) competition. The small sample, about 1 cm wide, was labeled with an antibody against acetylated tubulin after optical clearing and captured using a color-coded Z-projection. Laurent chose to image this sea star to showcase the beauty of science in the oceans. 

“I work with marine invertebrates, in particular echinoderms (sea stars, sea urchins and their kind),” commented Laurent. “They are beautiful animals, with a fascinating and aesthetically pleasing fivefold symmetry that is unlike anything else in the animal kingdom. We know little about how these animals shape their fivefold body, which is the topic of my research. Echinoderms, and marine invertebrates in general, are often not well-known animals. I’m happy that taking images of them helps communicate how much beauty we have in our oceans, and why it is important to know more about them and protect them.”

Image courtesy of Laurent Formery, global winner of the 2022 IOTY competition. To see all the winning images, go to olympus-lifescience.com/ioty. 

This image is an old favorite and, apparently, we aren’t the only ones who love when it reappears! Here we're looking at an amazing cross-section of a fetal cat. Or is it looking at us? The microscope image shows maturing ears, eyes, tongue, skull bone, sinus cavities, and other skull features. The sample was 12 mm in diameter.

This stunning image was captured after the fetal cat skull was prepared for examination and cut in a longitudinal view. Four individual images were combined into one final file called a computational photograph, which offers enhanced resolution and image enlargement.

Image courtesy of Mike Peres. Captured using brightfield microscopy at 2X magnification.

Plants under the microscope never fail to amaze us! 

"Dicotyledon plants have distinguishing nodes and internodes, giving rise to leaves, branches, and flowers, contrary to monocotyledon plants. The inner structure of vascular bundles consists of xylem (marked as orange and yellow), phloem (marked as fluorescent green), and multiple fibers."

Image and caption courtesy of Minjun Shin. Captured using an Olympus CX21 microscope. 

Maybe Popeye was on to something, because just looking at these images of spinach gives us a boost of energy. We’ll take a whole bowlful of these beautiful images, please! This stunning series of firework-like images captures a spinach root cross-section.

Image courtesy of UiM. Captured using an Olympus BH2 microscope.

We must have antioxidants on our minds, because this pretty image reminds us of the inside of a pomegranate. Don’t be fooled though: it’s actually a dog’s kidney! 

"Made with Periodic acid–Schiff (PAS) with a light green counterstain, this image shows two beautiful glomeruli. The glomeruli in kidneys are made up of many little capillary loops and bundles. This is where the filtration process of the blood stream begins. These capillary bundles are lined by something called a basement membrane. This membrane has an affinity for the Schiff reagent, so it stains bright pink."

Image and caption courtesy of Kate Murphy. Captured using an Olympus BX40 microscope.