1) Hit this button to start the selected research project (in the list above, not in the queue)
2) The project, you are currently researching
3) The estimated date, the research will be finished
4) The amount of research(points) needed for the project
5) The amount of research(points) still needed to finish the project
Research generally takes a long time, sometimes years of game-time
Once the project you are currently researching is finished, the top one in the queue will be researched. If there is no project to be researched, you will be getting a message about research labs not working
Hope this helps