On November 12th, 1717, clockmaker and mechanic Johann Bessler placed a 12-foot diameter, strange-looking wheel into a room. With a tender push, he started the contraption rotating, then confidently ...

A wheel weighted with swinging mallets. A cylinder rotating in a sealed, water-filled container. A siphon that transfers liquid back in forth in a seemingly endless loop. These may sound like the ...

Are these machines possible without violating the laws of physics? No. A wheel that spins forever; a bird that never quenches its thirst; a clock that never stops ticking, an endless source of free ...