Alicia González Segura, Dolores Molina Fernández and Isabel Sánchez Almazo from University of Granada (Spain) obtained this stunning image "as part of a study on phytoplankton biodiversity from the Alboran Sea in the Western Mediterranean, with particular emphasis on the lifecycle of Emiliania huxleyi", Alicia González Segura says. "It is amongst the most abundant eukaryotic microorganism in the oceans." The image was acquired with ZEISS GeminiSEM.

Andreas Kopp from Hochschule Aalen (Germany) submitted an image of fluorides on an anode surface of a Li-ion battery, taken with a ZEISS Crossbeam 550 scanning electron microscope at a magnification of 7350 times. "The most challenging part is the sample preparation", he says. "Any contaminations and damages of the samples have to be avoided. The batteries have to be opened and the electrolyte is washed away. In that process, the conductive salt in the electrolyte forms these cubes on the electrode surface."

Professor Bernardo Cesare has been studying rocks for 35 years, using a polarized microscope as the first and fundamental tool for his research. The awarded photomicrograph shows a "special brazilian agate, made of fine-grained quartz", he says. "Obtaining a sharp, focused image is a challenge, because the grain size is smaller than the sample thickness. With the horizontal banding and the coarser quartz crystals in the lower part resembling a crowd, the image has been appropriately named ‘The Concert’.”

Professor Cobus Visagie’s image of fungi shows a new Talaromyces species found in South Africa, growing on Oatmeal growth medium. “These structures are relatively fragile and combined with its dry spores are very sensitive to any kind of airflow", he says. "This sample was thus prepared by cutting a block of agar out, carefully placing it on its side, and then taking ±100 extended depth of field images and stacking these together." The image was acquired with an upright research microscope, ZEISS Axio Imager.A2.