In November 2009, Benjamin Philpot's research team experienced what all scientists hope for and most never experience: a Eureka moment. The discovery began many months earlier with a wild idea for finding a treatment for Angelman syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by developmental delay, lack of speech, and seizures. Philpot did his graduate work in Peter Brunjes’ lab at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, studying how a young rat’s experience with smells can shape the olfactory circuits of its brain.