NIKON SMALL WORLD 2011

Every year, Nikon hosts the Small World Photomicrography Competition, inviting photographers and scientists to submit images of all things visible under a microscope. The winners for this year's competition have just been announced, with Dr. Igor Siwanowicz taking first prize for his image of a common green lacewing larva that had earlier landed on his hand, trying to take a bite (photo number 21 below). This year's entries cover a fascinating range of subjects and sizes, from the eyes of a freshwater shrimp to the delicate scales on the wing of a butterfly, from a simple yet complex frost crystal to neurospheres and cancer cells. Enjoy a trip into a miniature world through the images shared here with us by the fine folks at Nikon, all from the 2011 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition.

This image of an ant's head, viewed from the front (at 10X) took 11th place in the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition. The ant's autofluorescence was observed using confocal micrsocopy by Dr. Jan Michels of Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel, in Kiel, Germany.


Dr. Douglas Clark of San Francisco, California submitted this image of the dried wing scales of a butterfly (Cethosia biblis) in incandescent light.


HeLa cancer cells viewed at 300x are seen in this 12th Place image by Thomas Deerinck from the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research in La Jolla, California. HeLa is an immortal cell line used in scientific research, made of cells originally sampled from cancer patient Henrietta Lacks in 1951.


The eye of a live giant waterflea (Leptodora kindtii), observed and submitted by Wim van Egmond of the Micropolitan Museum in Rotterdam, Netherlands. 


Taking 4th place in the competition, Dr. Robin Young of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia used intrinsic fluorescence to observe this specimen of liverwort (Lepidozia reptans) at 20x. (Dr. Robin Young).


Crystal twinning patterns in a leucite crystal from volcanic rock, observed in polarized light by Dr. Michael M. Raith of the Steinmann Institut, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. 


A water flea (Daphnia sp.) among green algae (Volvox sp.), an image by Dr. Ralf Wagner of Düsseldorf, Germany. 


Pekka Honkakoski of Iisalmi, Finland captured this image of a rare column snowflake with thin, knifelike ice extensions, lit in part by red and blue lighting from opposite sides.


The embryonic pectoral fin of Chiloscyllium plagiosum, the Whitespotted bamboo shark, observed by Dr. Andrew Gillis, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.


Taking 20th place was Douglas Moore of the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Moore's entry shows unpolished agatized dinosaur bone cells, fossilized cellular structure from an animal that lived some 150 million years ago, viewed at 42x.


Charles Krebs from Issaquah, Washington brings us this portrait of a water boatman (Corixidae sp.), viewed in reflected light.


Primary rat neurons grown as neurospheres, observed by Dr. Rowan Orme of Keele University, Keele, UK. 


The double compound eyes of a male St. Mark's fly (Bibio marci), submitted by Dr. David Maitland from Feltwell, UK.


A naturally formed frost crystal that had grown overnight on a fence in -15 degrees C weather. Image from Jesper Grønne of Silkeborg, Denmark.


A fish louse (Argulus), viewed at 60x by Wim van Egmond of the Micropolitan Museum in Rotterdam, Netherlands. 


Dr. Torsten Wittmann of the University of California, San Fransisco, submitted this image of bovine pulmonary artery endothelial (BPAE) cells fixed and stained for actin, mitochondria, and DNA.


A closeup view of a velvet mite (Eutrombidium rostratus) by Dr. David Maitland from Feltwell, UK.


Debora Leite of the University of Sao Paulo, in Sao Paulo, Brazil observed this cross-section of the structure of a sugarcane root.


Taking 10th place is this 100x view of a freshwater water flea (Daphnia magna), submitted by Joan Röhl of the Institute for Biochemistry and Biology in Potsdam, Germany. 


James H. Nicholson of the Coral Culture and Collaborative Research Facility, NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/CCEHBR & HML in Charleston, South Carolina took 15th Place with this image of lobe coral (Porites lobata), displaying tissue pigmentation response with red fluorescence at 12x.


The 1st place winner, a portrait of a green lacewing (Chrysopa sp.) larva (20x) by Dr. Igor Siwanowicz of the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried, Germany.


Benjamin Blonder, David Elliott took 18th place for their image of the venation network of a young quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) leaf. Blonder and Elliott are from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.


Dr. Havi Sarfaty of the Israeli Veterinary Association in Ramat-Gan, Israel, brings us this closeup of the mouth of a common fly.


Jonathan Franks of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, used autofluorescence to observe this algae biofilm.


The head and eye of a freshwater shrimp, observed by Jose R. Almodovar of the Microscopy Center, Biology Department, UPR Mayaguez Campus, in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.


At 17th Place is this 150x view of parasitic filaria worms (Litomosoides sigmodontis) nestled inside lymphatic vessels of a mouse's ear. Immge by Dr. Witold Kilarski of the EPFL-Laboratory of Lymphatic and Cancer Bioengineering in Lausanne, Switzerland.


Winning 2nd place is this 200x autofluorescent view of a blade of grass by Dr. Donna Stolz of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.


Using laser-triggered high-speed macrophotography, Dr. John H. Brackenbury of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, UK, captured this image of a water droplet containing a pair of mosquito larvae. 


Frank Fox of the Fachhochschule Trier in Trier, Germany took 3rd place with this image of a living specimen of Melosira moniliformis.


A three dimensional view of a cell culture of breast cancer cells, by Dr. Jonatas Bussador do Amaral and Dr. Gláucia Maria Machado Santelli of the University of São Paulo in São Paulo, Brazil.


The tip of a butterfly tongue viewed in polarized light by Stephen S. Nagy, M.D. from Helena, Montana.


The anterior lateral and median eyes of a jumping spider, observed by Walter Piorkowski of South Beloit, Illinois.



credits to uploader......

10 CAREER LESSONS WE CAN TAKE FROM STEVE JOBS

#1 Choose Simplicity

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, according to Jobs. He said "no" much more than he said "yes" in order to create products where only the necessary tools stood out. Jobs didn't like bells and whistles, which is clear in any Apple product.

According to a recent article in Fortune Jobs detests people who simply say yes to everything. Jobs and his management team would rather have people speak honestly about what Apple and its products are capable of doing, rather than pushing bad ideas. As one person quoted in the article states, “Over and over Steve talks about the power of picking the things you don’t do.”

#2 Have a "Beginner's mind"

“There’s a phrase in Buddhism, ‘Beginner’s mind.’ It’s wonderful to have a beginner’s mind," Jobs said.

Approach everything with an open mind and experience it like it is the first time. Have a sense of wonder.

#3 Expect excellence

“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected," said Jobs.

The 35-year-old company has more than 50,000 employees, annual sales of close to $100 billion, grows 60% per year and produces hit product year after year. The company is able to do that because Jobs will take nothing less than perfection. Though he has been called a "corporate dictator" by some, he has made Apple an untouchable company.

#4 Pick and cultivate talent

Apple has around 50,000 employees and then within this organization it has an upper echelon called “The Top 100,” a group of leaders who participate in annual strategy retreats. Though you would think the group would only have the higher-ups, it actually often selects junior employees that show strong skills and great ideas. According to Channelnomics.com, "Apple shows the cultivation and rewarding of talent is more important than maintaining some artificial hierarchy and notions that rank has its privileges.”

#5 Believe and stay with unusual projects

Because they may become Pixar. In 1986, shortly after leaving Apple, Jobs made what would turn out to be the most profitable investment of his life, according to Fortune. For $5 million he picked up the collection of computer graphics experts assembled by George Lucas into his Industrial Light and Magic Computer Division and renamed it Pixar. In 2006 he sold Pixar to Walt Disney Co. in a deal worth $7.4 billion, in which he ended up with a Disney board seat and the single largest share of Disney stock (7%, worth more than $3 billion). And think of what a sad world this would be without Woody and Buzz?

#6 Don't be afraid to be different

The Apple retail store is one example of this. The stores were considered a huge risk for the company, according to Jay Elliot, author of The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation. Elliot tells many stories of how Jobs saw things differently and capitalized on these differences to great success. “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower," Jobs said.

#7 Start Young

Not all of us are lucky enough to know what we want to do with our lives when we are young but if you are, go for it. As a teenager, Jobs phoned William Hewlett, president of Hewlett-Packard, to request parts for a school project. He got them, along with an offer of a summer job at HP.

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future," he told Stanford University graduates during a commencement speech in 2005. "You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

#8 Be involved in all facets of your company

During Jobs' time as Apple's CEO, the organization chart resembled a wheel with Steve at the center and managers or departments as the spokes. Jobs had his hand in every part of his company and that helped him build a better team.

#9 Change the world multiple times

Jobs changed several industries and he just kept doing it. From ComputerWorld: "He helped usher in the PC era with the Apple II; made GUI computers marketable; created the first MP3 player to gain mass market appeal; oversaw the digital distribution of music and other media through iTunes; created the first all-touch screen smartphone and helped build a new software distribution method for it (and for desktop computers); and took the concept of a tablet computer from niche product to mainstream must-have.

We may not all be able to change the world, but real leaders strive to do as much as they can. That's the difference between being a leader and simply being a manager or boss."

#10 Love what you do

It is clear that Apple was Steve Jobs's life.

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do," he told the Stanford grads in 2005.

"If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on."

Credit goes to Meredith Lepore [author of this article]

VLADIMIR PUTIN: THE ACTION MAN

Vladimir Putin, the 58-year-old former president and current prime minister of Russia, has cultivated a distinct public image over the past several years. The politician has piloted firefighting planes, darted whales, driven race cars, and even taken a submersible 1,400 meters (4,600 ft) below the surface of Lake Baikal. Putin was forced to step down from the presidency in 2008 due to a constitutional limit on more than two consecutive terms. However, he remained the most influential figure in Russian politics, and has had a strong hand in the "tandem rule" between himself and current president Dmitri Medvedev. The next presidential election takes place in March of 2012, and indications are that both Medvedev and Putin are planning to run, though neither has officially announced his candidacy yet. Gathered here are some of the more interesting photos taken of Vladimir Putin during his tenure as Russia's prime minister over the past few years.

A picture released on March 6, 2010 shows Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin taking a horseback ride in the Karatash area, near the town of Abakan, during his working trip to the Republic of Khakassia, on February 25, 2010.


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wears a helmet and the uniform of the Renault Formula One team before driving a F1 race car on a special track in Leningrad region outside St. Petersburg, on November 7, 2010.


Vladimir Putin test drives a Renault Formula One team car at a racing track near Leningrad, on November 7, 2010.


Vladimir Putin holds a five-year-old tiger's head as scientists put a collar with a satellite tracker on the animal in the academy of sciences Ussuri reserve in Russia's Far East, on August 31, 2008.


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin holds a judo training session at the Top Athletic School during his working visit to St Petersburg, on December 18, 2009.


Vladimir Putin prepares to dive during a visit to an archeological excavation of an ancient Greek port on the Taman Peninsula, about 1150 kilometers (720 miles) south of Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, August 10, 2011. Ancient Greek colonies were located on the peninsula and served as trading posts with the steppes of what is now southern Russia and Ukraine.


On August 10, 2011, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin carries two pieces of archaeological trophies he discovered during diving near an archeological excavation of an ancient Greek port on the Taman Peninsula.


This picture taken on September 19, 2009 shows Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin looking at a leopard as he visits the National Park in Sochi.


Yana Lapikova, a new personal photographer of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, taking pictures during an official event in Moscow, on June 16, 2011. The Russian government sought on June 17 to douse a frenzy of Internet comment after it hired Lapikova, an attractive former model and "Miss Moscow" finalist, as personal photographer to Putin.


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on a boat on Lake Ladoga, as he visits the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery on Valaam island, northern Russia, on August 14, 2011. During the visit to Valaam he took part in the Sunday service in the upper church of the Transfiguration Cathedral.


Vladimir Putin participates in an arm-wrestling contest during a visit at a summer camp run by the Nashi youth group at Lake Seliger in the central Tver region, on August 1, 2011. Thousands of young activists from 84 regions of Russia gathered in the camp for the annual forum in Russia.


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attempts to bend a frying pan with his bare hands during his visit to the summer camp of the pro-Kremlin youth group "Nashi" at lake Seliger, some 400km (248miles) north of Moscow, on August 1, 2011.


Vladimir Putin drives a snowmobile at Russia's ski resort Krasnaya Polyana near Sochi in southern Russia, on January 3, 2010.


Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, wearing headphones, sits in the cockpit of a firefighting plane in Ryazan region August 10, 2010. The plane later dropped water on a blaze southeast of Moscow, state media reported.


Vladimir Putin hugs a Bulgarian shepherd dog, after receiving it as a present from Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boiko Borisov in Sofia, on November 13, 2010.


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides with motorcycle enthusiasts during his visit to a bike festival in the southern Russian city of Novorossiisk, on August 29, 2011. Putin kicked off an election campaign on Monday revving up his three-wheeled Harley Davidson at the head of a bikers motorcade.


Vladimir Putin talks to a member of the "Lena-2010" Russian-German scientific expedition on Samoilovsky Island in Far Eastern Federal District, on August 23, 2010. Putin traveled beyond the Arctic Circle on Monday to look into evidence on climate change after a record heatwave devastated central Russia this summer.


Prime Minister Vladimir Putin looks at a bear while visiting the South Kamchatka Federal Sanctuary at Russia's Pacific Kamchatka peninsula, on August 24, 2010.


Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides a horse in southern Siberia's Tuva region, on August 3, 2009.


Vladimir Putin swims in a lake in southern Siberia's Tuva region, on August 3, 2009.


Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signs autographs for kids outside Khabarovsk, on August 27, 2010 during a visit in the region.


Vladimir Putin aims at a whale with a crossbow, to take a piece of its skin for analysis on the Olga Bay, some 240 kilometers north-east of Nakhodka, on August 25, 2010.


Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attaches a satellite tracking tag to a Beluga whale named Dasha during his visit to Chkalov island, some 700 kms northeast of the city of Khabarovsk, on July 31, 2009.


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin plays piano during a charity concert in Saint Petersburg, on December 10, 2010.


Vladimir Putin feeds a young moose at the national park "Losiny Ostrov" in northeast Moscow, on June 5, 2010.


n this Monday, August 29, 2011 photo, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin talks to leader of Nochniye Volki (the Night Wolves) biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov -- also known as Khirurg (the Surgeon) -- at a bikers' festival in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Russia.


Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin steers a boat near a bear on the shoreline, at the South Kamchatka Sanctuary outside Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Far East of Russia, on August 24, 2010.


Vladimir Putin walks through brush in southern Siberia's Tuva region, rifle in hand, on August 15, 2007.


Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sits inside a T-90AM tank during his visit an exhibition in the Urals town of Nizhny Tagil, on September 9, 2011.


Vladimir Putin strikes iron as he visits "Talsy" Architecture and Ethnography Museum in the Irkutsk Region of eastern Siberia on August 1, 2009.


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin takes part in a training session for young ice hockey players before the start of the "Golden Puck" youth tournament finals in Moscow, on April 15, 2011.


Vladimir Putin takes part in an expedition to Ubsunur Hollow Biosphere Preserve to inspect the snow leopard's habitat in Tyva Republic in the Siberian Federal District, on October 29, 2010.


A video grab shows Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin looking through the porthole of the "Mir-2" mini-submersible in Lake Baikal, on August 1, 2009. Putin dove into the depths of the lake aboard the mini-submersible on Saturday, descending 1,400 meters (4,600 ft) below the surface of the world's deepest lake to inspect valuable gas crystals.


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin adjusts his sunglasses as he watches an air show during MAKS-2011, the International Aviation and Space Show, in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, on August 17, 2011.


credit to sources....