Search for Life in the Universe

Supporting interdisciplinary inquiry into the emergence of life and its place in the universe

What conditions allow life to emerge? How might scientists recognize signs of life beyond Earth? The Search for Life in the Universe program brings together researchers across disciplines to investigate planetary habitability, the origins of life, and potential signatures of life elsewhere in the universe.

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Scialog®: Signatures of Life in the Universe

From 2021-2023, The Kavli Foundation supported Scialog®: Signatures of Life in the Universe. The goal of this Scialog® series was to bring together scientists from multiple disciplines to collaborate on new and innovative projects to advance the understanding of exoplanet habitability, the origins of life, and its signatures in the universe.

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Kavli-Laukien Postdoctoral Fellows

The Kavli-Laukien Postdoctoral Fellowship Program supports scholars in the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative conducting multi-disciplinary research aimed at revealing if life is abundant in the universe by striving to understand how initial conditions on planets dictate the origins of life and its subsequent evolution.

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