Ning Xu, an optical engineer at Tsinghua University in Beijing, has won Nikon’s Small World in Motion competition for 2025 with a super-resolution video showing the abnormal beating of cilia in the airways of a child with a rare genetic respiratory disorder. His entry beat 346 other video submissions from 40 different countries.
The competition, founded in 2011, is a spinoff of Nikon’s Small World Photomicrography Competition, which began in 1974. Both are meant to showcase “the beauty and complexity of things seen through the light microscope,” with the video contest taking advantage of technological advances that allow users to make movies and time-lapse images through the microscope.
The Winning Entry
Xu’s video focuses on primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), a genetic disorder that affects the tiny hairlike structures lining the lungs, among other areas. Those cilia move in waves to help push germs, mucus, dust, and other irritants out of the body through coughing or sneezing.
In people born with PCD, something goes wrong with those cilia. They might be the wrong size, the wrong shape, or missing altogether. They might move abnormally, or not move at all. That means irritants build up, causing respiratory infections and other complications.
What PCD Is
PCD is a genetic disorder that affects the cilia in several parts of the body, including the lungs. Those cilia are the tiny hairlike structures that line the airways and help move irritants out of the body.
Their wavelike motion is essential for clearing germs, mucus, dust, and other irritants. Without it, those irritants build up, causing respiratory infections and other complications. The cilia might be the wrong size, the wrong shape, or missing altogether. They might move abnormally, or not move at all.
Respiratory infections are a common complication of PCD.
The Numbers
| Year | Contest Type |
|---|---|
| 1974 | Small World Photomicrography Competition begins |
| 2011 | Nikon Small World in Motion competition founded |
| 2025 | Ning Xu wins with PCD video |
Xu’s win is a reminder of what microscopes can show us. A rare genetic disorder, invisible to the naked eye, becomes visible and comprehensible when viewed through the right lens.
“The beauty and complexity of things seen through the light microscope”
Nikon’s Small World in Motion competition is about more than just pretty pictures. It is about using technology to see the unseen, to understand the body at a scale that most of us will never experience directly.
Xu’s win is a small victory for science, and a large one for the craft of microscopy. It shows what can be done when a researcher takes the time to look closely, and when a camera is pointed at the right subject.
See the video the story is built around at Ars Technica.
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