Seymour Benzer, a Caltech professor and geneticist whose pioneering research discovered that genes were structured like words, passed away last month at the age of 86, writes the New York Times. Later in his career, he worked on the link between genes and behavior, memory, and longevity. Of his later research, he said, "It's always very refreshing to be able to just make a clean break, start over again with something you're completely ignorant about."