Will We Ever Know How Life Began?

In a laboratory at McMaster University in Ontario, a device that seems almost alive glows purple as it churns through its work. Atop a boxy base that resembles a small kitchen island, a windowed hemispherical chamber sits. Cords and instruments poke from it like flower petals. Gas billows from its bottom. The setup's purpose is hard to fathom if you don't know what it is and even perhaps if you do.