Mike Marcum didn’t have a lab, funding, or a PhD. Just a pile of salvaged electronics — and a theory. One night in Missouri, he fired up his homemade device. It formed a vortex. He tossed in a screw.

It started as a backyard experiment using scrap electronics. At first, objects would disappear and come back seconds later. But as the machine grew more powerful, things stopped returning — and then ...