A tale of two symmetries or The quantum universe from supersymmetry and duality

Research on the very early Universe has gradually been benefiting from the recent emergence of two attractive lines of investigation: Supersymmetric Q uantum Cosmology and String inspired Quantum Cosmology. The essential featu re is that supersymmetry is explicitly present in the former, while the pre sence of duality properties is characteristic of the latter. Moreover, it s eems that quantum cosmological solutions can be assigned wi th "hidden" sup ersymmetric properties, whose origin can be traced to a duality present in the classical string action. In this brief review we will therefore analyse some of the consequences of explicitly including supersymmetry and/or dual ity properties in a quantum cosmological scenario. In addition, several ope n issues in quantum cosmology are also introduced.