A Rube Goldberg-style contraption uses a powerful, focused beam of light, prisms, and magnifying glasses to activate its various mechanisms. Michelle Starr Science editor Michelle Starr is CNET's ...

Since the late 1980s, Purdue University has invited students to make Rube Goldberg machines accomplishing simple tasks in absurdly complex ways. Each machine has to occupy at least a 6-foot cube, ...

Decades after Mr. Goldberg, a cartoonist, died, artists and engineers have found creative inspiration in his outlandish inventions. By Sam Corbin What’s the simplest way to open a can? Faced with this ...