Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD
LightNews LightNews
banner
prasad.bsky.social
Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD
@prasad.bsky.social
11K followers 1.4K following 9.1K posts
Prof & Lab Head in NYC. 100% research: cell division, genome integrity, cancer.

Curious to a fault. Also πολύτροπος. Talking here for me alone. I listen to the finest worksong. Like/repost = bookmark/news, not agreement/endorsement.
Posts Replies Media Videos
prasad.bsky.social
"Dreher rattled off other encounters he’s had with poltergeists & various nameless spirits....He made clear that he wasn’t sure how real these experiences were or what they meant, & noted that this was precisely the point: We should not remain 'locked in an iron cage of scientism and rationality.'"
Dreher didn’t shy away from questions about his belief in the supernatural. He told me that he had once seen a woman possessed by demons while he was visiting her and her husband at their Upper East Side apartment, a story he recounts in Living in Wonder. The demons weren’t themselves visible: One of them shouted obscenities through the woman’s mouth, the way a demon possessed Linda Blair’s character in The Exorcist, until her husband managed to silence it with a “relic of the True Cross” hidden in his pocket. The woman apologized for the demon’s outburst, saying, “That wasn’t me.” Dreher rattled off other encounters he’s had with poltergeists and various nameless spirits. At the same time, he made clear that he wasn’t sure how real these experiences were or what they meant, and noted that this was precisely the point: We should not remain “locked in an iron cage of scientism and rationality.”
February 17, 2026 at 8:45 AM
prasad.bsky.social
Dorothy Thompson, Harper's (1941)

"It is an interesting and somewhat macabre parlor game to play...to speculate who in a showdown would go Nazi. By now, I think I know. I have gone through the experience many times—in Germany, in Austria, and in France..."

harpers.org/archive/1941...
It is an interesting and somewhat macabre parlor game to play at a large gathering of one’s acquaintances: to speculate who in a showdown would go Nazi. By now, I think I know. I have gone through the experience many times—in Germany, in Austria, and in France. I have come to know the types: the born Nazis, the Nazis whom democracy itself has created, the certain-to-be fellow-travelers. And I also know those who never, under any conceivable circumstances, would become Nazis.
February 17, 2026 at 5:48 AM
prasad.bsky.social
light (and by implication, power) is uneven across Cuba

Havana is mostly illuminated, in-line with its political, economic, and military importance, as well as access to compensating technologies like solar power
February 17, 2026 at 3:10 AM
prasad.bsky.social
Good luck.

Ironically your post about a break from social media is now featured in the Discover feed of Bluesky.
February 16, 2026 at 5:06 PM
prasad.bsky.social
February 16, 2026 at 5:00 PM
prasad.bsky.social
TIL @metmuseum.org made a copy of a frieze from the Acropolis & installed it in the basement between two bathrooms

meanwhile the original is in the @britishmuseum.bsky.social thx to Lord Elgin, never to be returned to Greece, while Parthenon docents & visitors lament the dismemberment of culture
February 15, 2026 at 7:47 AM
prasad.bsky.social
likewise Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which stirs us as a reminded that American politics is **different** because we shed our own blood to save the Union and fulfill unmet promises of the Revolutionary era
February 15, 2026 at 5:41 AM
prasad.bsky.social
The senior FDA official who asked not to be named in a press conference with journalists on Wednesday said that the "brazen failure of Moderna" to design the study differently "raises significant ethical concerns". Even the way the FDA is communicating about the issue raises alarm, Reiss said. "Not identifying yourself tells me you are unwilling to stand behind the decision because you know it is weak, flawed and untenable - politically motivated, not substantially valid," she said. "Being anonymous here is a coward's act, and shows the government knows it has no case."
February 13, 2026 at 4:28 PM
prasad.bsky.social
it's happened before
February 13, 2026 at 7:37 AM
prasad.bsky.social
“I consider it an unprecedented action that really violates the basic principles of a data-driven regulatory agency and the fundamentals of public health, and it’s that simple,” said Gary Nabel, former head of the National Institutes of Health’s Vaccine Research Center and chief scientist at Sanofi, who now runs a vaccine and cancer startup. “It’s a destructive precedent that will undermine the future of vaccine development and the preeminence of American research.”
February 13, 2026 at 3:14 AM
prasad.bsky.social
"Fed prosecutors in DC sought & failed to secure an indictment against 6 Democratic lawmakers who posted a video this fall that enraged Pres. Trump by reminding active-duty members of the military and & community that they were obligated to refuse illegal orders."

a republic which we can still keep
Federal prosecutors in Washington sought and failed on Tuesday to secure an indictment against six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video this fall that enraged President Trump by reminding active-duty members of the military and intelligence community that they were obligated to refuse illegal orders, four people familiar with the matter said. It was remarkable that the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington — led by Jeanine Pirro, a longtime ally of Mr. Trump’s — authorized prosecutors to go into a grand jury and ask for an indictment of the six members of Congress, all of whom had served in the military or the nation’s spy agencies. But it was even more remarkable that a group of ordinary citizens sitting on the grand jury in Federal District Court in Washington rejected the effort, sending a signal that they did not believe that the lawmakers had committed any crimes. It had been exceedingly rare for grand jurors to rebuff requests by prosecutors seeking indictments, although it has happened with increased frequency to the Justice Department under Mr. Trump, as his appointees push ahead with questionable cases.
February 11, 2026 at 2:53 AM
prasad.bsky.social
Tim Alberta from the top rope
February 9, 2026 at 2:08 AM
prasad.bsky.social
podcasts and podcasters had no role in these marvels
February 8, 2026 at 6:44 AM
prasad.bsky.social
If 600 years isn't enough to end this, when will be?
In 1377, a historian wrote that Africans “have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals,” meaning they “are, as a whole, submissive to slavery.” Cartoons circulated during the Civil War were printed with images similar to the one Trump posted: One labels a monkey holding a book upside down as a negro-man; another depicts a Black man on all fours, accompanied by the words whar’s jeff davis. In 1906, a man born in what was then the Belgian Congo, Ota Benga, was displayed at the Bronx Zoo in a cage with an orangutan. In 1975, white teenagers harassed Black students desegregating a Boston public school with the chant “Two, four, six, eight, assassinate the n*****r apes.”
February 8, 2026 at 6:37 AM
prasad.bsky.social
February 7, 2026 at 4:23 PM
prasad.bsky.social
February 7, 2026 at 3:22 AM
prasad.bsky.social
Aristotle’s warning (Politics I.1260b): “For as man is the best of the animals when perfected, so he is the worst of all when sundered from law and justice. For unrighteousness is most pernicious when possessed of weapons, and man is born possessing weapons for the use of wisdom and virtue…” /1
Therefore the impulse to form a partnership of this kind is present in all men by nature; but the man who first united people in such a partnership was the greatest of benefactors. For as man is the best of the animals when perfected, so he is the worst of all when sundered from law and justice. For unrighteousness is most pernicious when possessed of weapons, and man is born possessing weapons for the use of wisdom and virtue, which it is possible to employ entirely for the opposite ends. Hence when devoid of virtue man is the most unholy and savage of animals, and the worst in regard to sexual indulgence and gluttony. Justice on the other hand is an element of the state; for judicial procedure, which means the decision of what is just, is the regulation of the political partnership.
February 6, 2026 at 2:28 PM
prasad.bsky.social
that professor’s name sounded familiar — let’s check his Wikipedia page:
February 4, 2026 at 4:05 PM
prasad.bsky.social
yes –– before my time, obviously –– but still a lion of the tribe

if you travel through his namesake airport (LGA) the recent remodel added a ton of art, including a bust of the mayor and a gorgeous display of his inspiring words

source: www.untappedcities.com/art-guide-la...
February 4, 2026 at 1:47 AM
prasad.bsky.social
Bravo France 🇫🇷
February 4, 2026 at 12:47 AM
prasad.bsky.social
from May 2024 -- see how NIH Directors used to be

Dr. Bertagnolli is a practicing surgeon and academic [Wilson Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School]
February 3, 2026 at 11:39 PM
prasad.bsky.social
the mark of Bove 👀
Fox is a cum laude graduate of Seton Hall Law School and was a law clerk to New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Lee Solomon. She was an associate at two prominent New Jersey law firms, Riker Danzig and Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi, before joining the Justice Department in early 2025 as chief of staff to Emil Bove, the principal associate deputy attorney general and now a judge of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Bove came from the Ciesa law firm.
February 3, 2026 at 11:08 PM
prasad.bsky.social
This too: “For one constituency, Mr. Pretti’s death did more than grant permission to criticize. It confirmed [their view] that an armed citizenry is the last defense against govt tyranny. Minneapolis made it real. Masked federal agents killed a legal gun owner who had never drawn his weapon.”
For one constituency, Mr. Pretti’s death did more than grant permission to criticize. It confirmed a long-held fear. For decades, the conservative case for the Second Amendment has rested largely on the premise that an armed citizenry is the last defense against government tyranny. N.R.A. fund-raising letters once warned of “jackbooted government thugs.” The language was apocalyptic, the scenario hypothetical. Minneapolis made it real. Masked federal agents killed a legal gun owner who had never drawn his weapon. Gun rights groups pushed back. Gun Owners of America posted on social media: “Peaceful protests while armed isn’t radical — it’s American. GOA will hold any administration accountable.”
February 1, 2026 at 12:02 PM
prasad.bsky.social
insane as this screed is, it also highlights the common sense rule that we have one POTUS at a time

the alleged crimes of a past incumbent are fair game for the next

I'll take that over impunity every day
January 31, 2026 at 9:23 AM
prasad.bsky.social
IANAL but (2) seems to allow arrest of legally present aliens, since the subjective belief of the arresting officer is sufficient
(a) Powers without warrant Any officer or employee of the Service authorized under regulations prescribed by the Attorney General shall have power without warrant— (1) to interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or to remain in the United States; (2) to arrest any alien who in his presence or view is entering or attempting to enter the United States in violation of any law or regulation made in pursuance of law regulating the admission, exclusion, expulsion, or removal of aliens, or to arrest any alien in the United States, if he has reason to believe that the alien so arrested is in the United States in violation of any such law or regulation and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest, but the alien arrested shall be taken without unnecessary delay for examination before an officer of the Service having authority to examine aliens as to their right to enter or remain in the United States;
January 31, 2026 at 4:45 AM