Research interests scribbled by Seymour Benzer on the lunchroom blackboard, circa 1975. Placed at the bottom of the blackboard is a group photo of the Benzer lab at that time. Lab members at one lunch session brought up scientific questions that interested them the most. Listed below is what we could decipher from the writing on the blackboard, starting from the upper left corner and ending at the lower right corner: “Behavior (whole animal psychology, ethology): social behavior; input–output for individual; inborn vs. learned; adaptive significance to survival; schedules of reinforcement needed to specialization (?). Neural and muscular events and glandular (physiology): integration inside the CNS; cognition; processing of sensory information for each modality; what changes in synapses correspond to memory; how does chemical milieu of CNS change its state; function of NS regions. Circuitry of NS and muscles (anatomy): map all neurons and connections; identify inhibitory and excitatory synapses. Development of NS and muscles (embryology): positional information – molecular key; neurospecificity: inertial guidance vs. lick-and-stick; program for cell division, migration, differentiation (readout of P.I.); why does a neuron stop dividing? Genome structure and control (molecular biology): packaging of genes (behavioral operon?); coordinated repression and derepression; genetic units of behavior? Evolution: role of behavior? reconstruct actual sequence; how can complex behavior patterns evolve? Where is it headed? Can we direct it? Should we?” Photo courtesy of Seymour Benzer.