I am honored to receive the 2023 Hollaender Award, for achievements in “application of the principles and techniques of environmental mutagenesis to the protection of human health”. People may assume that a career in applied science might not be as exciting or impactful as basic research. I hope my career “adventures” into environmental science, carcinogen investigations and photobiology, as well as publications in Nature and Science, will counter this assumption. The narrative is described in terms of “mentors” whose advice had a lasting impact: “come early and work hard” (meanwhile, have fun); “ think instead of/while screening” (i.e. performing mundane tasks); “avoid the big boo-boo”; “just go in the lab and do experiments”; “become an expert”. Many of the most critical events in science and in life are “random”, as demonstrated by accidental adventures that led to scientific as well as life-altering personal realizations. Adventures included forays into nitrosamine mutagenicity, nanomaterial assessment, germ cell mutagenic risk, bacterial mutagenicity assays, genotoxicity of cell phone radiation, personalized cancer prevention, and >25 years in regulatory safety assessment at FDA: review of genotoxicity data, experiments in the lab, and collaboration with others to foster better analyses of DNA damaging agents, generally in relation to cancer risk. Finally, with my work and that of my lifelong tripmate William Lijinsky as models, I suggest that a “non-hypothesis driven”, open-ended approach to research can be path-breaking and forefront.