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problems. At the same time we do not propose new organizations, 

 but rather to allow serious temporary cooperation at a level of real 

 effectiveness. The teams ought not to be too small, nor too large; 

 the tasks neither too brief nor too extensive. 



With a steady Urey Fellowship Program in the Origin of Life 

 and the tempting opportunity of a Focus Award in the Origin of 

 Life we feel that the tasks we have outlined, tasks which transcend 

 any discipline of science but which promise answers of the highest 

 importance to one of the deepest questions human beings can ask, 

 can be met in the decade or so ahead. Unless some such new support 

 is found outside the normal rubrics, there will not be much progress 

 toward the solution of questions too profound for chemists, biolo- 

 gists, astronomers, or geologists to answer alone in the ordinary flow 

 of the stream of contemporary science. Like all real science, this 

 fundamental investigation also has foreseeable applications. For do 

 not our fossil fuels represent ancient processes of organic chemistry, 

 not deeply understood? And does not the ecology of the life in the 

 shallow waters bear sharply on the great chemical cycles that can 

 fit or spoil the Earth for human life? These are mere accidental, but 

 urgent by-products of a deep study of early life and its nature. We 

 thus end this book with a note of hope that these suggestions attest 

 to the vigor of this field. The depth and variety of questions to be 

 answered are signs of the maturation of this exciting scientific 

 endeavor. If we are wise enough in this small research investment, we 

 can expect real advances in knowledge and in practice of facing the 

 great questions that reflective people ask: what is life, and how 

 did it arise within the context of changing nature? 



