Mars Inc. beat out 35 competitors as overall winner Thursday night at Explorit Science Center's 16th annual Corporate Science Challenge. Mars competed in and won the "Just for Fun" category but racked up more points than the first-place winner in the "Serious Scientists" category, a team put together by Stephen C. Bick and Jill P. Slater.

The event, held at Freeborn Hall at UC Davis, raised funds for Explorit, a nonprofit organization devoted to informal science education. Companies sponsored teams of eight that competed in a lively science quiz game. Second-place winners were the McConnell Team in the "Just for Fun" category and Monsanto's Calgene Campus in "Serious Scientists."

Arcadia Biosciences won first place in the best-dressed competition for outfits that suited the evening's theme, "Where Were You in '82?" (Explorit was founded in 1982 and is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.) Novozymes placed second in the dress competition.

Additional funds were raised through the auctioning of science experts to help the competitors. Thursday's experts - UCD professors Ken Burtis, Richard M. Bostock and Susan Kauzlarich, and science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson - brought in nearly $8,000 to support Explorit's programs.