Like a softly glowing robin's egg, the nucleus of a cultured kidney cell seems to lie in a nest of microtubules, as seen at 100-times magnification. The shot is among the spectacular entrants in this year's Nikon Small World competition, which since 1974 has recognised the best pictures taken using a microscope.

All cells with a membrane-bound nucleus also have microtubules – hollow filaments of protein that aid in various tasks, from cell division to locomotion. This surreal vision of a lab-grown monkey cell was submitted by Mariela Loschi of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

(Image: James Burchfield/Nikon Small World 2013)

Another image shows the explosive dynamics of sugar transport in fat cells, seen in a living cell thanks to a microscope technique called total internal reflection fluorescence. It was made by James Burchfield at the Garvan Institute in Sydney, Australia. Stay tuned for the contest winners, which will be announced 30 October, and in the meantime tour a gallery of our favourite shots from last year's competition.