SCIENCE OLYMPIAD ANATOMY PHYSIOLOGY
2026/2027 EVALUATION EXAMS QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Cones - ✔✔Cone-shaped visual receptor cells; located in retina; works best in bright
light; responsible for viewing color; greatest density in the fovea
✔✔Optic nerve - ✔✔the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain
✔✔myopia - ✔✔Nearsightedness
✔✔hyperopia - ✔✔farsightedness
✔✔cataracts - ✔✔clouding of the lens
✔✔presbyopia - ✔✔Defect in vision in advancing age involving loss of accommodation
or recession of near vision; due to loss of elasticity of crystalline lens
✔✔nyctalopia - ✔✔a condition in which an individual with normal daytime vision has
difficulty seeing at night; also known as night blindness
✔✔rhodospin - ✔✔the pigment found in the rods;
protein in eye that absorbs light and responsible for seeing made from vitamin A
✔✔cones - ✔✔Cone-shaped visual receptor cells; located in retina; works best in bright
light; responsible for viewing color; greatest density in the fovea
✔✔Blind Spot - ✔✔the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind"
spot because no receptor cells are located there
✔✔Optic Chiasm - ✔✔Point at which half of the optic nerve fibers from each eye cross
over and connect to the other side of the brain.
✔✔Outer Ear & ear canal - ✔✔brings sound into eardrum
✔✔Eardrum - ✔✔tympanic membrane
✔✔Eardrum - ✔✔vibrates to amplify sound & separates inner and middle ear
✔✔Middle ear - ✔✔the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny
bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the
cochlea's oval window
, ✔✔Ossicles - ✔✔three tiny bones in the middle ear;
malleus, incus, stapes
✔✔Eustachian tube - ✔✔connects middle ear to throat and equalizes pressure on
eardrum
✔✔Cochlea - ✔✔A coiled tube that is found in the inner ear and that is essential to
hearing
✔✔process of hearing - ✔✔Auricle > External Auditory Canal > Tympanic Membrane >
3 inner ear bones > Oval window > Cochlea
✔✔otoliths - ✔✔calcium carbonate crystals in ear;
"Ear Stones" found within the matrix of the macula. Their response to gravity and
changes in body position trigger hair cells which initiate impulses resulting in sense of
balance.
✔✔five primary tastes - ✔✔o Sour
o Sweet
o Bitter
o Salty
o Umami - salts of certain acids (for example
monosodium glutamate or MSG)
✔✔Meissner's corpuscles - ✔✔light touch; located in the skin of your palms,
soles, lips, eyelids
✔✔Paccinian corpuscules - ✔✔deep pressure/vibrations; Every square centimeter of
your
skin contains around 14 pressure
receptors
✔✔Pain - ✔✔pain receptors are the most
numerous
• each square centimeter of your
skin contains around 200 pain
receptors
✔✔Cold receptors - ✔✔They are most stimulated when the surface of the skin is at 77 º
F and are no longer stimulated when the
surface of the skin drops below 41
✔✔Hot receptors - ✔✔perceive hot sensations when the surface of the skin rises above
86 º F and are
2026/2027 EVALUATION EXAMS QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Cones - ✔✔Cone-shaped visual receptor cells; located in retina; works best in bright
light; responsible for viewing color; greatest density in the fovea
✔✔Optic nerve - ✔✔the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain
✔✔myopia - ✔✔Nearsightedness
✔✔hyperopia - ✔✔farsightedness
✔✔cataracts - ✔✔clouding of the lens
✔✔presbyopia - ✔✔Defect in vision in advancing age involving loss of accommodation
or recession of near vision; due to loss of elasticity of crystalline lens
✔✔nyctalopia - ✔✔a condition in which an individual with normal daytime vision has
difficulty seeing at night; also known as night blindness
✔✔rhodospin - ✔✔the pigment found in the rods;
protein in eye that absorbs light and responsible for seeing made from vitamin A
✔✔cones - ✔✔Cone-shaped visual receptor cells; located in retina; works best in bright
light; responsible for viewing color; greatest density in the fovea
✔✔Blind Spot - ✔✔the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind"
spot because no receptor cells are located there
✔✔Optic Chiasm - ✔✔Point at which half of the optic nerve fibers from each eye cross
over and connect to the other side of the brain.
✔✔Outer Ear & ear canal - ✔✔brings sound into eardrum
✔✔Eardrum - ✔✔tympanic membrane
✔✔Eardrum - ✔✔vibrates to amplify sound & separates inner and middle ear
✔✔Middle ear - ✔✔the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny
bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the
cochlea's oval window
, ✔✔Ossicles - ✔✔three tiny bones in the middle ear;
malleus, incus, stapes
✔✔Eustachian tube - ✔✔connects middle ear to throat and equalizes pressure on
eardrum
✔✔Cochlea - ✔✔A coiled tube that is found in the inner ear and that is essential to
hearing
✔✔process of hearing - ✔✔Auricle > External Auditory Canal > Tympanic Membrane >
3 inner ear bones > Oval window > Cochlea
✔✔otoliths - ✔✔calcium carbonate crystals in ear;
"Ear Stones" found within the matrix of the macula. Their response to gravity and
changes in body position trigger hair cells which initiate impulses resulting in sense of
balance.
✔✔five primary tastes - ✔✔o Sour
o Sweet
o Bitter
o Salty
o Umami - salts of certain acids (for example
monosodium glutamate or MSG)
✔✔Meissner's corpuscles - ✔✔light touch; located in the skin of your palms,
soles, lips, eyelids
✔✔Paccinian corpuscules - ✔✔deep pressure/vibrations; Every square centimeter of
your
skin contains around 14 pressure
receptors
✔✔Pain - ✔✔pain receptors are the most
numerous
• each square centimeter of your
skin contains around 200 pain
receptors
✔✔Cold receptors - ✔✔They are most stimulated when the surface of the skin is at 77 º
F and are no longer stimulated when the
surface of the skin drops below 41
✔✔Hot receptors - ✔✔perceive hot sensations when the surface of the skin rises above
86 º F and are
