• Beauty found under the microscope

    Slideshow: Living large on a small scale

    Click through the top images from the 2012 Olympus BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competition, which features microscopic images of life science subjects

    Launch slideshow

    By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

    Who would have thought so many wonders could fit in so small a space? Igor Siwanowicz used confocal microscopy, and some skillful staining, to bring out lots of colorful detail in this cluster of spore-filled structures known as sporangia. The microscopic material comes from a type of fern commonly found on the U.S. East Coast. This is just one of the winning photos from this year's Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition, which highlights great views of microscopic life-science subjects. Click through the slideshow to see more of the winners, and check out my report on Cosmic Log for the story behind the pictures.

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  • Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters

    Former Olympus Chief Executive Michael Woodford gestures as he speaks about an accounting scandal at the company during an event by the Economist magazine in Tokyo Nov. 24, 2011. Woodford said on Thursday he was confident Japanese authorities would fully investigate the scandal engulfing the disgraced camera maker, as he prepared for a showdown with the directors who sacked him.

    Olympus ex-CEO Woodford in tense boardroom talks

    By Rich Shulman

    It's hard to imagine how much courage it takes for a corporate executive like Michael Woodford to blow the whistle on his company, Olympus, in the face of Japanese business culture.

    Reuters reports:

    TOKYO (Reuters) - The ex-CEO of Japan's disgraced Olympus Corp attended what he called a tense but civilized board meeting on Friday with the directors who had sacked him, and said all hoped the firm could avoid being delisted over the scandal engulfing it.

    But Michael Woodford, still an Olympus director despite being fired as CEO a month ago and blowing the whistle over the accounting scam, said there had been no talk of him returning to lead a clean-up of the once-proud maker of cameras and endoscopes.

    Olympus had fired Woodford, a rare foreign CEO in Japan, alleging he had failed to adapt to Japanese culture and the company's management style. Woodford says he was axed for questioning dubious merger and acquisition payments.