And science there was. I have defined a research topic and a way to complete it. Well, ok, so you start on the default until it's done. I'm making the code to start the second project now, but that's almost unimportant in comparison.
The first topic is Local Survey, takes 30 science. Since there are no scientists yet, your nerd has to do it all him/herself, but that's ok, cause they count as one scientist to slowly nibble at your science points and turn it into progress.
Finishing local survey gets you the local survey perk(does nothing at moment) and +5% perception(yay!)
Any time research is done, you get a perk of the same name. It also calls for any special code the research may have, so research can do basically anything it wants.