Spiraculum by Jochen Valett
The spinning top holds onto the spiral because it is magnetic. Twist the spiral in your hands to get start the top spinning, then stand the spiral upright. The top spins down the spiral, and then spins back up again. It continues to reverse, going up and down, until it runs down.
The mechanism is quite subtle - the spiral slightly widens at the top and the bottom, and this causes the spinning top to move from the outside edge to the inside edge, and thus reverse direction. At the Cross-Curricular end of travel, the opposite occurs.
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