The United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest biomedical research agency in the world, funding all genres of health research. One of the NIH agencies is particularly dear to Eyewire, given their scientific focus: the National Eye Institute (NEI). This year marks the 50th birthday of the NEI, who has now for five decades been funding research leading to new treatments for visual diseases and and discoveries about how we see. To celebrate, we’re teaming up with the bright minds and sharp eyes of NEI to host a series of science-themed competitions that will take place between March and October, 2018.

We’re kicking things off with a special Scythe Marathon beginning at 8 am on Monday, March 5. Look for the NEI Marathon cell and race to trace, for the results of this marathon will be on display at an event on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on March 21!

This special marathon will also have Trivia on the hour for 24 hours starting at 8 am on March 5th. These trivia questions will be about vision science!

Most of the additional competition themes will be revealed at a future date. A few that you can look forward to are the rematch of Rods vs Cones, Color vs B&W, and Central vs Peripheral Nervous System. These special versus events will come in addition to regularly scheduled Eyewire competitions.

Trivia Bonuses:

300 points for every 1st place answer

200 points for every 2nd place answer

100 points for every 3rd place answer

Marathon Bonuses:

Trace 20 cubes – 2,000 point bonus

Trace 50 cubes – 5,000 point bonus

Trace 150 cubes – 20,000 point bonus

Trace 300 cubes – 40,000 point bonus

For every 150 cubes above 300 cubes – 2,500 point bonus

Happy Birthday, NEI! For science!

Art by Daniela Gamba