The Harvard Origins of Life Initiative is a multi-decade research program at the intersection of biochemistry and planetary astronomy. Our goal is to discover how the initial conditions on planets, including our Earth, determined their biochemistry and life forms. This knowledge will eventually allow targeted studies of the biochemistry of planets that might harbor life, including Earth twins.

"This decade of dedicated preparatory work is needed so that, one day, parents and children could gaze at the sky and know that a place somewhat like home exists around "THAT" star, where life might be gaining a toehold somewhere along the long and precarious evolutionary process that led, on Earth, to humankind. And perhaps it is staring back at us!"

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