Photo contest reveals hidden beauty — and mystery — in the microscopic world around us

Each year, science and art collide with gorgeous results in Nikon’s Small World photomicrography competition.

Started in 1975, the contest celebrates the beauty of images taken through a light microscope. Though often not visible to the naked eye, the tiny worlds revealed in the photos can seem as hauntingly familiar as they are strange.

Sometimes startling, always stunning, here's a small sample of this year's winners.

1st Place

This year's top prize was awarded to China’s Zhang You for an image of a rice weevil perched on a grain of rice.

The rice weevil is a pest that buries its eggs inside grains of rice. After hatching, the larva stays inside the grain, consuming it as it develops.

“I had observed rice weevils in grains before, but never one with its wings spread,” You said in a statement, according to a news release from the contest organizers. “This one was naturally preserved on a windowsill, perhaps in a final attempt to escape."

In a process called focus stacking, You captured more than 100 images at different focal points and layered them to create an image with greater depth of field.

2nd Place

The second place was awarded to Jan Rosenboom of Germany for his image of an algae colony in a drop of water.

3rd Place

The third place went to John-Oliver Dum, also of Germany, for his image of pollen caught in a garden spider's web.

A water flea, a mouse paw, a hoverfly and more

Other images that earned accolades and acknowledgments in the competition showcase small creatures and intricate, yet tiny, objects.

In the image above, the translucence of this pregnant water flea's body allows us to glimpse the eggs inside. The water flea is actually a crustacean, not a flea, and gets its name from its swimming motion, which resembles the movements of a flea.

In the photo below, a little bubble forms the shape of a heart.

Keep scrolling for more eye-catching microscope images.

See more of this year's images here and last year's winners here.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com