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The Beautiful Insanity of Close-Up Nature Photos

The world reveals its terrors under a microscope.
Image may contain Text and Art

With all due respect to larger-than-life phenomena like Slenderman and social media, sometimes the scariest things are in the tiniest packages. Don't believe us? These shortlisted images from this year's 43rd annual Nikon Small World competition might convince you.

  • Teresa Zgoda
    01
    The toothy frown of a *Taenia solium*—which you might know as a tapeworm. It attaches to its host’s intestine with the help of suckers and a small beak called a rostellum. Yup. Sleep tight.
  • Charles Krebs
    02
    The bulging, lidless eye of a daddy longlegs. Will it haunt your dreams? Who are we to say?
  • Bram Van den Broek, Andriy Volkov, Kees Jalink, Nicole Schwarz, Reinhard Windoffer
    03
    A thermal map of the Sarlacc from *Return of the Jedi*—wait, no, that’s not right. These are human skin cells (HaCaT keratinocytes) expressing fluorescently tagged keratin.
  • David A Johnston
    04
    Lily pollen might not appear nightmarish on first glance, but as anyone with seasonal allergies can tell you, looks can be deceiving.
  • Christian Gautier
    05
    Dressing up like a terrible person at a terrible summer cocktail party this year? You’ll need terrible pants—and look no further than this skin of a synapta. (That’s a sea cucumber for you non-marine biologists.)
  • Levon Biss
    06
    An *Exaerete frontalis* (orchid cuckoo bee), from the collection of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
  • David Millard
    07
    Eggs of the common Mestra butterfly, laid on a leaf of a noseburn plant.
  • Rick Adams
    08
    Haven’t had a good scream in a while? Enjoy this image of a third-trimester fetus of a Megachiroptera (fruit bat).
  • Harald Andersen
    09
    GAZE, WEAK MORTALS, ON THE HORRORS OF—oh, that’s just dyed human hair. Never mind\!
  • Ryo Egawa
    10
    Floral bouquets are passé as a romantic gesture. This Valentine's Day, get the object of your affection some (squints at paper) “individually labeled axons from a ciliary ganglion of an embryonic chick.” Or, y'know, some chocolates.

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Laura Mallonee is a writer for WIRED covering photography. ... Read more
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