A rice weevil on a grain of rice wins the Nikon Small World 2025 competition

A stunning image of a rice weevil on a single grain of rice has won the Nikon Small World 2025 photomicrography competition, providing valuable insight into the structure and behavior of this well-known agricultural pest and offering a new perspective on it. The image was taken by Zhang You from Yunnan, China. Another photograph by You placed 15th in this year’s competition.

“It’s worth diving deep into entomology: understanding insect behavior and mastering lighting,” You said in a statement. “A remarkable work combining artistry and scientific rigor, capturing the very essence, energy and spirit of these creatures.”

There was also an element of luck in creating his winning image. “I had observed rice weevils in grains before, but never with their wings spread,” You said. “This one was naturally kept on a windowsill, perhaps in a last attempt to escape. Its small size makes it extremely difficult to manually prepare specimens with outstretched wings, so its encounter was both serendipitous and inspiring.”

Nikon’s annual competition was founded in 1974 “to showcase the beauty and complexity of things seen under an optical microscope.” Photomicrography involves attaching a camera to a microscope (either a light microscope or an electron microscope) so that the user can take very high-resolution photographs of objects. British physiologist Richard Hill Norris was one of the first to use it for his studies of blood cells in 1850, and the method has been increasingly recognized as an art since the 1970s. Many revolutionary technological advances took place in the following decades, particularly with the advent of digital imaging methods.