Science consultant, writer and photographer.

28/10/2024

CORAL SNAKE ADVISORY
At dawn on Monday morning (Oct. 28) I was unlocking the gate to our Central Texas place when I looked down and saw a large coral snake at my feet. I quickly stepped back, and the snake quickly continued its journey across the caliche drive to the leaf-covered grass. As the photos reveal, fallen leaves can conceal a coral snake. Fall is arriving, so if you reside in coral snake territory wearing open footwear outdoors may not be a good idea, especially for children.

25/10/2024

Dr. Tom Gill is a well-known professor of atmospheric science at the University of Texas in El Paso. Our friendship began when he informed my daughter Sarah that the fungal spores and bacteria she was detecting with her kite were from biomass fires in Yucatan. Sarah and I published her discovery in a leading atmospheric science journal. She has since been named the founder of a new field of science called pyroaerobiology.

Tom recently asked me to assist with a paper on Saharan dust. The paper was just published, one of my few in a medical science journal. Dr. Joseph Prospero, one of the world's leading Saharan dust scientists, provided advice about this paper. You might like to see the photos from my site in this paper:

21/10/2024

OBJECT DETECTED AT 415 KM OVER SEGUIN, TX, LAST NIGHT

Do any of you have contacts at NASA's Mission Control?

At 19:24:53 the evening of 20 Oct 2024, my best twilight photometer detected a moderately large object at an altitude over my Texas site of 415 km. The International Space Station orbits at about 400 km, so I have tried to report my finding to NASA. However, as I learned in 2021 when I detected the breakup of Kosmos 1408, I have been unable to contact the ISS Mission Control team in Houston. Various radar systems keep tract of objects that might fly across the ISS orbit. Nevertheless, it seems good that they be informed about other sightings.

Here is my 2021 report that I was unable to send to NASA:

MEASURMENT SITE: Geronimo Creek Atmospheric Monitoring Station at 29.6 N 97.9W (near Seguin, TX).

16 NOV 2021: My 200 dB twilight photometer detected a significant aerosol layer from 375 km to 525 km, with a peak between 425 km to 450 km. The event was detected from 19:03:51 CST to 19:19:18 CST.

17 NOV 2021: The photometer indicated a breakup of the debris field into 12 layers, from 231 km to 510 km. The layers closest to the ISS altitude were at 390 km and 410 km. There might be a few much higher and much lower layers at 600 km and 235 km. I will need to check these for starlight interference. Let me know if you would like to see the profile.

18 NOV 2021: Cloud cover will probably block measurements tonight.

INSTRUMENT: The photometer employs an LED with peak spectral response at 870 nm (outside nearby water v***r bands) directly coupled to a 200 dB log converter and a 16-bit logger. There are no optics, and the field of view is about 1.5 degrees (FWHM), about the separation of the closest 2 stars in Orion's belt.

10/10/2024

THE ROLEX AWARD

Ace interviewer Andrew McDiarmid has posted another interview about my science career. This one is about the Rolex Award and its ramifications to my scientific research. Included are some tips about how to apply for a Rolex Award. It’s time for another Texan to be selected.

VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/3tth5OBpEQc?si=Tp7egESpa19k0FUm

AUDIO:
https://idthefuture.com/1965/

Rolex is well-known the world over for crafting high-quality, innovative time-pieces. But did you know they also award funds to people with innovative ideas in science and technology? On this ID The…

05/10/2024

MAXIMILIAN SUNFLOWERS

Fall has arrived, and the Maximilian sunflowers in our front field are in full bloom despite the ongoing drouth. These stately wildflowers produce dozens of yellow blooms on stalks that can reach as high as 10 feet. Some of ours are at least 8 feet tall. Our field had none of these stately plants when we moved here nearly 40 years ago. Birds eat their seeds, so maybe that’s how they arrived.

While native Americans probably had various names for this showy plant, it was first formally described by the German explorer and naturalist Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied. Maximilian observed the plants while exploring the north-central United States from 1832-1834. (He did not travel through Texas.) You can learn much more about Maximilian sunflowers online.

23/09/2024

Discovery Institute's Andrew McDiarmid has produced several video interviews about my memoir "Maverick Scientist" and some of my scientific research. Andrew is a first-class interviewer with a delightful Scottish accent. You can find the twilight interview ("The Science of Sunset") at www.evolutionnews.org under the section on PHYSICS, EARTH & SPACE. Search this site for "Mims" to find the memoir interviews. His next interview will be about the Rolex Award.

26/04/2024

Terry L. Fossum, a fellow Texas A&M graduate and friend, kindly posted a postcard review of "Maverick Scientist" on his page. Terry is a best-selling author and adventurer. Enter his name on Google to check him out!

22/04/2024

My memoir “Maverick Scientist” is about much more than science. For example, it covers a 1,000-mile bicycle trip from Albuquerque, NM, to Padre Island National Seashore 50 years ago by teens from my church. The photo shows my team during a 90-mile ride across New Mexico desert country. I will cover that 1,000-mile adventure in future Facebook posts.

You may recall that Andrew McDiarmid of the Discovery Institute interviewed me for two videos about my new memoir, “Maverick Scientist.” Andrew has now released two readings from the book that I very much hope you will hear: https://idthefuture.com/1884/ and YouTube:
https://youtu.be/6Fe6jKOXaUs?si=_Hv2iFk_Hll8823V

If you think I am trying to promote the book, you are absolutely correct. Why? Science is a key to modern living, and the book has firsthand stories about doing serious science without a science degree.

I also hope you will visit Amazon’s page about the book and submit a review or just a score (1 to 5) about your impression of the book, even if based solely on the two videos and/or Andrew’s readings. Just search “Amazon Mims Maverick”

08/04/2024

The long anticipated solar eclipse of 8 April 2024 was blocked by thick clouds over my Texas site. I was hoping to detect waves in the ozone layer as during the 1991 6-minute eclipse, a finding published in Geophysical Research Letters. While the clouds were not wanted, they certainly created a happy reaction when they thinned enough to see the partial eclipse. The photo was made with a Sony a6300 and a 200mm lens.

30/03/2024

Andrew McDiarmid of the Discovery Institute has released the second of two interviews about “Maverick Scientist,” my new memoir. The Part 1 video interview is linked below.

I found the Part 2 interview especially interesting, for Andrew covered both my science and a few controversies:
Forrest Mims: My Adventures As an Amateur Scientist (Part 2 of 2)

If the link above does not work, please copy and paste it into Google. That will take you to Part 2. Andrew is a terrific interviewer, and I hope you will find his questions totally on target.

BTW, if you have read “Maverick Scientist,” I hope you will consider posting a review on Amazon.

30/03/2024

Andrew McDiarmid of the Discovery Institute has released the second of two interviews about “Maverick Scientist,” my new memoir. The Part 1 video interview is linked below.

I found the Part 2 interview especially interesting, for Andrew covered both my science and a few controversies. It's here::
Forrest Mims: My Adventures As an Amateur Scientist (Part 2 of 2)

Andrew is a terrific interviewer, and I hope you will find his questions totally on target.

BTW, if you have read “Maverick Scientist,” I hope you will consider posting a review on Amazon.

30/03/2024

Andrew McDiarmid of the Discovery Institute has released the second of two interviews about “Maverick Scientist,” my new memoir. The Part 1 video interview is linked below.

I found the Part 2 interview especially interesting, for Andrew covered both my science and a few controversies:

Forrest Mims: My Adventures As an Amateur Scientist (Part 2 of 2)
(If this title is not a clickable hot link, just copy and paste it into Google.

Andrew is a terrific interviewer, and I hope you will find his questions totally on target.

BTW, if you have read “Maverick Scientist,” please consider posting a review on Amazon.