An excellent work of the contest 'Nikon's Small World In Motion 2020' that captures the fantastic micro world with a movie will be announced

The excellent works of 2020 of the movie section 'In Motion' of the photo contest 'Nikon's Small World' sponsored by Nikon that captures the micro world with a camera have been announced. Many fantastic movies that show the 'movement' of the tiny world that cannot be seen with the naked eye have been released.

Coalescing Micro-Droplets Win The 10th Annual Nikon Small World in Motion Competition | News | Nikon's Small World
https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/news/coalescing-micro-droplets-win-the-10th-annual-nikon-small-world-in-motion-competition

'Nikon's Small World' is a contest dedicated to zoom video held every year by Nikon. The award-winning works of the movie category 'In Motion' that appeared in 2020 can be seen from the link below.

2020 Small World in Motion Competition | Nikon's Small World
https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2020-small-world-in-motion-competition

◆ 1st place: Microdroplets to coalesce
The prestigious No. 1 was the 'Merging Microdroplets' taken by Kazi Fazle Rabbi and Dr. Xiao Yan of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The movie contains the very moment when the tiny droplets, which are a mixture of 80% water and 20% ethanol, merge, and the mushroom-shaped microorganisms contained in the droplets. Rabbi and his colleagues, who belong to the Department of Mechanical Engineering, said that they shot this movie in the process of developing surfaces and materials that repel droplets. 'We focused on microscale visualization of how droplets and condensates interact with the surface that repels the droplets,' he said.

2020 Nikon Small World in Motion Competition --First Place --YouTube


According to Rabbi et al., The biggest problem in this shooting was the generation and control of fine droplets. Rabbi and colleagues say it was very difficult to generate and control tiny droplets while maintaining perfect lighting with perfect focus.

◆ 2nd place: Plankton larvae of marine phoronids
The second place was 'Plankton Larva of Marine Phoronid ' by Dr. Richard Ralph Kirby, who belongs to the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom. You can see the movement of plankton's tentacles swimming fluffy in the liquid and the built-in heartbeat that can be seen through the transparent body surface. In an award-winning interview, Dr. Kirby said, 'Despite the importance of plankton to many ecosystems, we know very little about plankton. Micrographs are curious and in our ecosystems. It will help us better understand Plankton's activities and roles. '

2020 Nikon Small World in Motion Competition --Second Place --YouTube


◆ 3rd place: Cytoplasmic streaming in onion cells
A movie by a poster who wishes to remain anonymous, who captured onion cells at a 40x zoom and captured the ' cytoplasmic streaming ' phenomenon of the intracellular liquid flow, won the 3rd place. It shows how minute substances slowly flow inside the cells.

2020 Nikon Small World in Motion Competition --Third Place --YouTube


◆ 4th place: Black worm during peristalsis
The fourth place was 'Blackworm in Peristalsis' taken by Martin Kristiansen of Denmark. Through the clear skin, you can see the inside of the body while the worm is writhing. The magnification of the objective lens used for shooting is 4 times.

2020 Nikon Small World in Motion Competition --Fourth Place --YouTube


◆ 5th position: Fluorescent actin expressed in hippocampal neurons in rat embryos
Dr. Andrew Moore and Dr. Pedro Pedro Guedes-Dias of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute are 'rat neurons' stained with fluorescent paint. Neurons stained with a 100x objective lens harbor a sparkler-like light, as if you could hear a 'cracking' sound.

2020 Nikon Small World in Motion Competition --Fifth Place --YouTube


The award-winning works are from 1st to 5th place above, but works up to 25th place are also released as Honorable Mentions. You can see the honorable mentions that reflect various microscopic worlds such as microorganisms and plant cells from the following.

2020 Small World in Motion Competition | Nikon's Small World
https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2020-small-world-in-motion-competition