Watches, Stories, & Gear: Dune, A Nuclear Powered Gameboy, & The Human Genome

“Watches, Stories, and Gear” is a roundup of our favorite content, watch or otherwise, from around the internet. Here, we support other creators, explore interesting content that inspires us, and put a spotlight on causes we believe in. Oh, and any gear we happen to be digging on this week. We love gear.

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This installment of “Watches, Stories, and Gear” is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop and our Pop-Up happening in New York City right now.

Dune Gets Official Main Trailer

The highly anticipated Denis Villeneuve film, Dune received its official main trailer this week and it offers a detailed look at what is shaping up to be a cracking adaptation of the 1965 Frank Herbert novel by the same name. We get a clear look at the world and characters that bring it life portrayed by a star studded cast that includes Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Zendaya and more. If you’re unfamiliar with the epic story now might be a good time to pick up the book and acquaint yourself prior to the film’s October 22nd release date. Until then, this trailer is worth a few more viewings.

A Gameboy That Runs On Nuclear Power

If you remember the stress of finding a few extra double A batteries laying around the house (or raiding the TV remote) to keep your Gameboy juiced, we’ve got a hell of a DIY project you might be interested in. Engineering YouTuber Ian Charnas uses a circuit capable of storing energy from tritium tubes that generate 1.5 microwatts of power. Charging the device to run for an hour requires about 2 months, but hey, it works, and will far outlast any battery you’re likely to find at the store.  See more details at Makezine right here or watch the video above.

Playdate: A Non-Nuclear Powered Handheld Gaming Device

If you don’t have a working Gameboy and stable source of nuclear power, the upcoming Playdate offers an interesting alternative for your handheld gaming needs. This tiny device features a D-pad, two buttons, and a …hand crank that replaces a thumbstick for movement. It’s weird and funky but looks to deliver on its premise of bringing fun back to handhelds. The Playdate is limited to playing software written in Lua or C, and while there’s no SD slot, it can download new games via the internet. The screen isn’t backlit, and with 400×240 pixel resolution, it’s not exactly HD (but much better than the OG Gameboy), but the $179 price point, which includes a whole season of games, does offer some value for the charm. Read more about this one over at arstechnica right here and keep an eye out for pre-orders later this month. 

Scientists Complete Sequence of Human Genome

Scientists have hit a major milestone in completing their sequence of the entire human genome. This comes more than 20 years after the release of a draft sequencing, and provides vivid detail never before seen of the set of nucleic acid sequences for humans that encode our DNA within 23 chromosome pairs. Implications here are far and wide, from understanding the links between genes and diseases, and uncovering blind spots in different centromere regions containing repeated segments of DNA. While the milestone is worthy of celebration, but the interesting work is just getting started here.

eBay Finds: Vintage Jules Jurgensen

Here’s a nice and simple dress watch from an under-the-radar brand, Jules Jurgensen. The 34mm steel case looks unpolished and in excellent condition, with clean lines and straight lugs. The silver dial has really cool applied faceted steel markers that have a kind of ‘coffin’ style to them. Really a nice classic look that should catch people’s eye. There is a small crack on the crystal at 6 per the seller, but it’s not obnoxious to my eye. The 17j automatic movement runs well per the seller, so you should be good to go!

View auction here.