Perhaps the most persistent nonsense in physics: the perpetual motion machine. Bad ideas come and go in physics. But there’s one bit of nonsense that is perhaps more persistent than all others: the ...

Perpetual motion machines are impossible, right? They violate the laws of thermodynamics. And yet people have been trying to engineer one for centuries. YouTuber gzumwalt posted a video of what looks ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

Why AI is taking on impossible challenges. How a perpetual motion machine can power an AI. Why we have to put an explicit explanation about an April 1st article so that the search engines don’t ding ...

Perpetual motion machines can do work indefinitely with zero energy input. If one existed, it could turn a wheel or raise water, thereby generating energy without needing fuel of any kind—a useful ...

My favorite shelf in the home library is where Raymond Roussel, the Comte de Lautréamont, E.T. A. Hoffmann, Leonora Carrington and other writers form a brilliant phalanx of eccentricity and marvel. I ...

For decades, the question of how to keep a Slinky in perpetual motion has befuddled scientists and toy owners alike. Now, one man may have the answer to ensure the Slinky fun never stops. Matthias ...