The event is organized and run by MIT alumni/ae volunteers, and is funded through the generosity of The Mathworks. If you are interested in volunteering for the event, please e-mail sciencetrivia@mit.edu. We appreciate help in the areas like testing and editing questions, coordinating refreshments for the event, serving as team judges or general staff on the evening of the contest.
Register your team HERE for the Science Trivia Challenge using MIT's SmarTrans(TM) registration system. There will be space for 16 Youth Division teams and 8 Open Division teams, to be filled on a first-come first-served basis. Registration closes on April 15.
The following rules will apply:
- There is a limit of five players per team at any time. Youth Division teams may substitute players between the preliminary and final rounds if they choose.
- In the Youth Division, all team members must be age 18 or younger or be currently enrolled in school in grade 12 or lower. However, a Youth Division team does not have to be affiliated with any particular school.
- In the Open Division, team members may be of any age, but the maximum is still 5 members per team.
- The registration fee will be $20 for a Youth Division team and $50 for an Open Division team.
The following is an approximate schedule for the event. This schedule is subject to change. Teams must check in before the start of their competition round.
- 5:15pm: Team check-in opens
- 6:00pm: Youth Division Preliminary Rounds 1 and 2
- 7:00pm: Open Division Competition (depending on schedule)
- 8:00pm: Youth Division Championship Round
Contact sciencetrivia(at)mit.edu with any questions.
Try these questions from past Science Trivia Challenges...
YOUTH DIVISION, ROUND 1, QUESTION 1:
In 1984, two doctors in Perth, Australia, published their discovery that most stomach ulcers are caused not by stress but by a common spiral-shaped bacterium now known as Helicobacter pylori. This bacterium is able to survive in the human stomach because it releases enzymes that produce what?
(a) ammonia
(b) ethyl alcohol
(c) hydrochloric acid
(d) sodium chloride
(e) valine
YOUTH DIVISION, ROUND 2, QUESTION 4:
What was the first element to first be discovered not on the planet Earth? It gets its name from the fact that it was first discovered through a spectral analysis of the sun's chromosphere. It was later found to exist on Earth, mainly as a component of natural gas. Give the exact name or chemical symbol of this element.
YOUTH DIVISION, ROUND 2, QUESTION 6:
RSA encryption, an algorithm for public-key encryption, was invented by and named for Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman of MIT in 1977. In RSA encryption, the first step is to create a modulus by taking the product of two large numbers P and Q. What must be true about P and Q?
(a) P and Q must each be greater than 2^16 or 65,536
(b) P and Q must each be between 1 and 2^16 or 65,536, inclusive
(c) P and Q must each be prime
(d) P and Q must be relative primes
(e) P and Q must have the same remainder when divided by 256
YOUTH DIVISION, ROUND 2, QUESTION 10
What was the name of the survey ship on which Charles Darwin famously voyaged around South America from 1831 to 1836?
(a) HMS Beagle
(b) HMS Corgi
(c) HMS Labrador
(d) HMS Saluki
(e) HMS Whippet
YOUTH DIVISION, CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND, QUESTION 1:
For two points each, match the following "-ologies" with their description as a sub-branch of biology.
1. The study of amphibians and reptiles
2. The study of fungi
3. The study of mosses
4. The study of particulate organic matter such as spores and pollen
5. The study of trees
(a) Bryology
(b) Dendrology
(c) Herpetology
(d) Mycology
(e) Palynology
YOUTH DIVISION, CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND, QUESTION 6:
The new definition of a planet contains three criteria. For 5 points each, pick which two of the following are NOT part of the IAU's final definition of a planet:
(a) has an orbit around the Sun
(b) is by far the largest object its local population
(c) has enough self-gravity to assume a nearly-round shape
(d) has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit
(e) does not produce energy by a nuclear fusion mechanism
OPEN DIVISION, ROUND 1, QUESTION 6:
In 2003, scientists discovered a new relative of ours in the Homo genus, a one-meter tall humanoid that has been dubbed the "hobbit". What is the scientific name for this newly discovered species?
(a) Homo afarensis
(b) Homo antecessor
(c) Homo cepranensis
(d) Homo floresiensis
(e) Homo georgicus
OPEN DIVISION, ROUND 1, QUESTION 7:
The German scientist Alfred Wegner proposed the continental drift hypothesis in 1912. At the time, he suggested that the Earth at one point contained one land mass called "Pangaea". What was the eleven-letter name he used to describe the single ocean that surrounded this mass?
OPEN DIVISION, ROUND 2, QUESTION 1:
The practice of "stratigraphy" would most commonly be used in which of the following scientific fields?
(a) brain science
(b) genetics
(c) meteorology
(d) paleontology
(e) quantum physics
OPEN DIVISION, ROUND 2, QUESTION 8:
One of the biggest controversies in the history of mathematics was over who "invented" the field of calculus. Ultimately, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz were co-credited with inventing it independently of one another, while each accused the other of plagiarizing their work. However, the word "calculus" to describe the field was coined by Leibniz, and modern calculus mainly uses Leibniz' notations. What "f-word" did Newton use to describe his version of calculus?
(a) fasciations
(b) fissions
(c) flections
(d) fluxions
(e) fractions
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