About: Ibrar Ayyub

Women are currently underrepresented among speakers at scientific meetings, both in absolute terms and relative to their representation among attendees, but a new study suggests one way to address this deficit. An analysis of 460 scientific symposia to be published in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology reveals that the inclusion of at least one woman on a convening committee increases the proportion of female speakers by as much as 86% and significantly reduces the likelihood the session would have an all-male list of speakers.

A few months ago, I saw an instructable by fjordcarver on how to build a coloursensor with an RGB led and an LDR. It inspired me to try whether I could improve his design. Here are the things that I wanted: The sensor should have as few pins as possible. It should work as a […]

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) have discovered a unique stellar system of two white dwarf stars and a superdense neutron star, all packed within a space smaller than Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The closeness of the stars, combined with their nature, has allowed the scientists to make the best measurements yet of the complex gravitational interactions in such a system.

Properly maintained rechargeable batteries can provide good service and long life. Maintenance involves regular monitoring of battery voltage. The circuit in Figure 1 works in most rechargeable batteries. It comprises a reference LED, LEDREF, which operates at a constant current of 1 mA and provides reference light of constant intensity regardless of battery voltage. It […]

Aurora 48 is capable of individually controlling 48 Full color LEDs using a 40 pin microcontroller. The principle of operation is based on my other “Aurora”s. (see Aurora 9×18) The circuit is relatively simple and straightforward. If you’ve seen other LED matrix type circuit, this should look familier. In a nutshell, the 48 RGB LEDs are divided in two […]

A team of researchers in the Czech Republic has found that dogs can now be added to the list of animals that are able to sense and respond to the Earth’s magnetic field. In their paper published in Frontiers in Zooology, the researchers describe field experiments they conducted that indicated that dogs prefer to defecate while in a North-South stance relative to the Earth’s axis, during times when the magnetic field is calm.

I am in the process of designing a function generator and I needed a frequency counter to check it against. This project uses a minimal number of components for a very economical and compact design. A bare-bones Arduino clone is at the heart of this project and the measured frequency is shown on an LCD […]

This article looks at the options for getting started with a GPS design for industrial applications, from the transceivers to modules and the evaluation boards available, as well as the antenna issues to consider. It looks at how modules from suppliers such as Antenova and NXP Semiconductors can be used, extending to single chip implementations […]

I love robots. Normally the ones I build are quite large and wouldn’t fit in your pocket, but for a change of pace I decided I would try something small and fun! This robot is exactly that, and in fact fits inside of an altoids tin. It is inexpensive, versatile (so many different sensors can […]

The species historically cited as the most abundant of coral algae that forms rodoliths at the Gulf of California in Mexico is in reality a compound of five different species. This finding was made by Jazmín Hernández Kantun, marine biologist at the Autonomous University of South Baja California (UABCS), resulting in a change of paradigm in the study of the species known as Lithophyllum margaritae.