What is the Brain Bee?
The Brain Bee is a live Question & Answer competition that tests students' knowledge of neuroscience. The best young brains around the world are quizzed about the brain and how it relates to intelligence, memory, emotions, sensations, movement, stress, aging, sleep, and neurological disorders.
The winners of each National Brain Bee across the 6 participating continents will have the opportunity to travel to the International Brain Bee Championship.
The Brain Bee is designed to be a high-level and friendly academic competition. The material draws from university and medical school course content and requires thoughtful preparation.
Mission
The mission of the Lithuanian Brain Bee is to motivate school students to learn about the brain and to inspire them to pursue careers in neuroscience so they can help treat and find cures for brain disorders.
Participation rules
Participants must:
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Currently live in Lithuania
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Be fluent in English (the official language of the IBB)
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Be a student of 13-18 years old
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Be interested in how your brain works – you can find learning materials on our website!
Date
All participants will receive access to the Online Brain Bee exam on the 10th of January, 2024 The exam may be taken any time between the 10 of January and 14 of February, 2024.
Exam format
Participants will have to answer 50 questions related to the brain and neuroscience, including but not limited to intelligence, memory, emotions, sensations, movement, stress, ageing, sleep, neurodegenerative diseases, stroke & other neurological disorders facing our community. Each question is worth 1 point. All questions will be multiple-choice. Some questions may include brain cross sections and neurohistology slides. Students will have 30 minutes to complete the exam.
Preparation for online exam
All questions will come from the following two books:
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A lot of short videos about the brain anatomy you also can find here.
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More than 340 brain terms defined at http://dana.org/brainglossary
Examples of test questions
1. What do you call the major component of a neuron that receives information being transmitted from other neurons?
a) Nodes of Ranvier
b) Axon terminal
c) Dendrites
d) Soma
2. What is a way in which the effects of a neurotransmitter on the current of the postsynaptic neuron can be increased?
a) Decrease in the number of receptors
b) Increase in the number of receptors
c) Decrease in receptor efficiency
d) Increased internalization of the receptor
3. Which of the following drugs would be useful to give to a patient with stroke?
a) drugs that target 5-HT receptors
b) tissue plasminogen activator
c) beta-interferon
d) acetylcholinesterase inhibitors
4. What neurotransmitters are enhanced by antidepressant drugs?
a) Serotonin
b) Adrenaline
c) Norepinephrine
d) Dopamine
e) a, b and c
f) a and c
g) a, b and d
Prizes
Students who score well in the Round 1 Online Quiz will be selected to progress to the Round 2 National Finals.
The Top 50-100 participants will be invited to the National Finals that will take place in April, 2024. We hope to host the event onsite however, due to these difficult and uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nationals may be held online.
The winner of the National Brain Bee will have a possibility to participate at the International Brain Bee ONLINE during FENS conference in Vienna, Austria in August, 2024. Only the first 5 winners of IBB 2024 will be invited next year to meet live in 2025 in Boston, USA during the next IBB in 2025.
International Brain Bee
The cancellation of many 2020 local and national competitions including the IBB World Championship has been a great disappointment for the Brain Bee community and the students who were unable to participate. While the organizers of the IBB are concerned for next year and that it may not be possible to hold in-person events, they want to assure students that the 2021 World Championship will go ahead.
The 2024 IBB World Championship will be held in conjunction with the FENS conference in 2024 in Vienna, Austria. More details can be found at https://thebrainbee.org/.
How can students register?
If you are interested in participating in the Lithuanian Brain Bee 2023, head to https://www.brainbee.lt/.
The registration deadline is January 10, 2024.
Contacts
If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on: litbrainbee@gmail.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BrainBeeLT and Instagram @litbrainbee.