The Olympus BioScapes contest celebrates the marriage of science and art.

It showcases breathtaking images of life seen through a microscope, including a rat brain, the mouthparts of a vampire moth and other small wonders.

The 2014 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition takes the power of photography and videography one notch higher as it captures important details hidden from our eyes. Using the magnifying lens of a microscope, participants blend art and science to produce scientific curiosity with an artistic aesthetic.

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On its 11th year, the BioScapes competition received almost 2,500 images from scientists and researchers in 70 countries. The qualified images and videos that depict life sciences were taken through any sort of microscope.

Entries were classified according to the kind of science they represented; their visual impact or beauty and the technical expertise it displayed. Judges awarded 10 images highest honors and named 62 honorable mentions.

The winners came from 14 U.S. states and 21 countries; there were nine video entries.

"Olympus BioScapes movies and images have spurred public interest in and support of microscopy, drawn attention to the vital work that goes on in laboratories worldwide, and inspired young people to seek careers in science," said Hidenao Tsuchiya, Chairman of Olympus Scientific Solutions Americas, part of Olympus Corporation.

The first place winner is a short video showing a Drosophila embryo emerging from trembling cells.

Second place is an image of cells in the cerebellum of a rat brain taken by Thomas Deerink of the University of California, San Diego.

Third place is Dr. Igor Siwanowicz's entry of barnacle appendages the creatures use to sweep the ocean waters for plankton and other food.

Fourth place is two weevils posing for the microscopic camera of Csaba Pinter of Hungary.

Fifth place is photo of the cerebral cortex of a rat's brain's showing cell nuclei in blue, astrocytes in yello, and blood vessels in red and taken by Madelyn May of Hanover, New Hampshire.

The sixth placer is the picture of a worm larva representing a type known as a magelonid polychaete taken by David Johnston of Southampton General Hospital in England.

Seventh place is the butter daisy flower by Oleksandr Holovachov of Ekuddsvagen, Sweden.

Eighth place went to Matthew Lehnert and Ashley Lash of Kent State University for their microscopic close-up showing the mouth parts of a vampire moth.

Ninth place is a green coneheaded planthopper nymph by Igor Siwanowicz of HHMI's Janelia Research Campus.

Tenth place went to Philipp Keller, Fernando Amat and Misha Ahrens from Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus for their video of neural activity in a living zebrafish brain.

TagsOlympus BioScapes Competition, Olympus BioScapes, Science, art, Microscope, microscopy