Ancient computer’s gears may not have been able to turn

The Antikythera mechanism, a mysterious ancient Greek device that is often called the world’s first computer, may not have functioned at all, according to a simulation of its workings. But researchers say we can’t be sure of this since the machine is so badly damaged.

Since the mechanism was discovered in 1901, in a shipwreck thought to date to around 60 BC, researchers have struggled to work out exactly why it was built. X-ray scans and digital reconstructions show that it was originally a 30-centimetre box containing interlinked systems…