geekosystem

Whatever you happened to do this past week likely doesn't match up to the students from the Clark School of Engineering at University of Maryland that broke their own record for human-powered helicopter flight. The helicopter in question, the Gamera II, relies entirely on human-power from a series of pedals for flight and was flown for 50 seconds. Considering that there's a $250,000 prize on the line this suddenly seems a lot more impressive.

If you were a fan of Microsoft's concept for the two-screen folding Courier tablet, this will surely bring you pangs of sadness. Sadly, there no signs of life from that project, but Microsoft Research has collaborated with Nicholas Chen from the University of Maryland to create something new. These devices are handheld, single-screen tablets but can communicate wirelessly to provide a multiscreen experience. For example, users can click on a link and have it open on the screen of another tablet, similar to how you can open a link in a new window in your web browser. Two of the tablets can also be placed next to each other, for a two-page view like a book, or to provide a note-taking space. Though interesting, the demo does make the system seem awfully cumbersome. I really can't imagine that people would want to have a slew of these things strewn around their homes, even if you could do really cool stuff with them. But I wouldn't be surprised if this kind of seamless cooperation between devices made it into future products. Instead of two tablets, perhaps this technology could let you open a link from your computer on your phone so you can keep reading it later, or some other multi-device collaboration. Speculation (and practicality) aside, the device looks pretty cool. Keep reading after the jump for video of the device showing of its co-operative powers.

Researchers at University of Maryland's School of Medicine have discovered that human lungs contain bitter taste receptors, identical to those on our tongues. In itself, this would be a surprising discovery, but as it turns out, these taste receptors may have a valuable potential medical application: They could be used to treat asthma more effectively than any current drug.