Fred Lepore
@fredlepore.bsky.social
I'm a neuro-ophthalmologist at Rutgers. I despise EMR & love to teach students/residents how to examine the brain directly w/ an ophthalmoscope (& indirectly w/ a detailed neurologic exam).
Wrote "Finding Einstein's Brain" but damn if it isn't lost again!
Wrote "Finding Einstein's Brain" but damn if it isn't lost again!
Lord Rayleigh and Bluesky
JW Strutt, born this month 1842, described Rayleigh scattering of short wavelengths by the atmosphere-> blue skies.
He also did red skies - see Princeton this PM w/decreased scatter & absorption of long wavelength light traversing greater span of atmosphere at sunset
JW Strutt, born this month 1842, described Rayleigh scattering of short wavelengths by the atmosphere-> blue skies.
He also did red skies - see Princeton this PM w/decreased scatter & absorption of long wavelength light traversing greater span of atmosphere at sunset
November 6, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Lord Rayleigh and Bluesky
JW Strutt, born this month 1842, described Rayleigh scattering of short wavelengths by the atmosphere-> blue skies.
He also did red skies - see Princeton this PM w/decreased scatter & absorption of long wavelength light traversing greater span of atmosphere at sunset
JW Strutt, born this month 1842, described Rayleigh scattering of short wavelengths by the atmosphere-> blue skies.
He also did red skies - see Princeton this PM w/decreased scatter & absorption of long wavelength light traversing greater span of atmosphere at sunset
Know thyself.
Delphic maxim inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo
Received today. We're already on a first name basis. How is this possible?
Delphic maxim inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo
Received today. We're already on a first name basis. How is this possible?
October 22, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Know thyself.
Delphic maxim inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo
Received today. We're already on a first name basis. How is this possible?
Delphic maxim inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo
Received today. We're already on a first name basis. How is this possible?
Q. What did Einstein do on his day off?
A. The Marquand estate is now a public park, and because today was Sunday and I didn't go to the Institute, I took a walk there- it's so close by, and so beautiful. "Conversations with Einstein" May 8, 1954
I agree-Marquand Park seen on a ramble yesterday.
A. The Marquand estate is now a public park, and because today was Sunday and I didn't go to the Institute, I took a walk there- it's so close by, and so beautiful. "Conversations with Einstein" May 8, 1954
I agree-Marquand Park seen on a ramble yesterday.
October 19, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Q. What did Einstein do on his day off?
A. The Marquand estate is now a public park, and because today was Sunday and I didn't go to the Institute, I took a walk there- it's so close by, and so beautiful. "Conversations with Einstein" May 8, 1954
I agree-Marquand Park seen on a ramble yesterday.
A. The Marquand estate is now a public park, and because today was Sunday and I didn't go to the Institute, I took a walk there- it's so close by, and so beautiful. "Conversations with Einstein" May 8, 1954
I agree-Marquand Park seen on a ramble yesterday.
Living Fossil Find in Princeton
Fossils indicate that Dawn redwood-metasequoia glyptrostroboides-went extinct 65 MYA (mesozoic) until its rediscovery in Sichuan province in 1941. Seeds were planted in Marquand Park in 1955. We found it growing there today.
OK, so it's not a coelacanth...
Fossils indicate that Dawn redwood-metasequoia glyptrostroboides-went extinct 65 MYA (mesozoic) until its rediscovery in Sichuan province in 1941. Seeds were planted in Marquand Park in 1955. We found it growing there today.
OK, so it's not a coelacanth...
October 19, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Living Fossil Find in Princeton
Fossils indicate that Dawn redwood-metasequoia glyptrostroboides-went extinct 65 MYA (mesozoic) until its rediscovery in Sichuan province in 1941. Seeds were planted in Marquand Park in 1955. We found it growing there today.
OK, so it's not a coelacanth...
Fossils indicate that Dawn redwood-metasequoia glyptrostroboides-went extinct 65 MYA (mesozoic) until its rediscovery in Sichuan province in 1941. Seeds were planted in Marquand Park in 1955. We found it growing there today.
OK, so it's not a coelacanth...
Einstein at No Kings 10.18.25 in Princeton
After being "received w/ such kindness & respect as I have been in America" Einstein wrote in 1921-"this proves that knowledge & justice are ranked above wealth & power by a large section of the human race"(Ideas and Opinions)
True 104 years ago.. and today
After being "received w/ such kindness & respect as I have been in America" Einstein wrote in 1921-"this proves that knowledge & justice are ranked above wealth & power by a large section of the human race"(Ideas and Opinions)
True 104 years ago.. and today
October 18, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Einstein at No Kings 10.18.25 in Princeton
After being "received w/ such kindness & respect as I have been in America" Einstein wrote in 1921-"this proves that knowledge & justice are ranked above wealth & power by a large section of the human race"(Ideas and Opinions)
True 104 years ago.. and today
After being "received w/ such kindness & respect as I have been in America" Einstein wrote in 1921-"this proves that knowledge & justice are ranked above wealth & power by a large section of the human race"(Ideas and Opinions)
True 104 years ago.. and today
1500 and counting
The Good (they eat up to 3000 insects/day), the Bad (vectors for ~130 viruses), & the Ugly (chiropteran visages are an acquired taste)
Pictured: pensive flittermouse I apprehended in the kitchen before release in NJ pines
Go sky puppies!
The Good (they eat up to 3000 insects/day), the Bad (vectors for ~130 viruses), & the Ugly (chiropteran visages are an acquired taste)
Pictured: pensive flittermouse I apprehended in the kitchen before release in NJ pines
Go sky puppies!
October 4, 2025 at 3:56 PM
1500 and counting
The Good (they eat up to 3000 insects/day), the Bad (vectors for ~130 viruses), & the Ugly (chiropteran visages are an acquired taste)
Pictured: pensive flittermouse I apprehended in the kitchen before release in NJ pines
Go sky puppies!
The Good (they eat up to 3000 insects/day), the Bad (vectors for ~130 viruses), & the Ugly (chiropteran visages are an acquired taste)
Pictured: pensive flittermouse I apprehended in the kitchen before release in NJ pines
Go sky puppies!
March of the Man-Apes www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/s...
Thomas Huxley-aka Darwin's bulldog- used Waterhouse Hawkins' marvelous drawing (Gibbon 2x) in 1863 to promote evolution
Alas Hawkins was anti-evolution but he was the first to mount and restore dinosaurs for the Crystal Palace exhibit 1852-54
Thomas Huxley-aka Darwin's bulldog- used Waterhouse Hawkins' marvelous drawing (Gibbon 2x) in 1863 to promote evolution
Alas Hawkins was anti-evolution but he was the first to mount and restore dinosaurs for the Crystal Palace exhibit 1852-54
September 14, 2025 at 5:11 PM
March of the Man-Apes www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/s...
Thomas Huxley-aka Darwin's bulldog- used Waterhouse Hawkins' marvelous drawing (Gibbon 2x) in 1863 to promote evolution
Alas Hawkins was anti-evolution but he was the first to mount and restore dinosaurs for the Crystal Palace exhibit 1852-54
Thomas Huxley-aka Darwin's bulldog- used Waterhouse Hawkins' marvelous drawing (Gibbon 2x) in 1863 to promote evolution
Alas Hawkins was anti-evolution but he was the first to mount and restore dinosaurs for the Crystal Palace exhibit 1852-54
Neanderthals had larger brains (1500 cc) than Homo sapiens (1350 cc).
If we de-extinct them, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't need ChatGPT.
If they don't come back, don't worry. Modern humans have 1-4% Neanderthal DNA in their genomes.
If we de-extinct them, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't need ChatGPT.
If they don't come back, don't worry. Modern humans have 1-4% Neanderthal DNA in their genomes.
September 5, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Neanderthals had larger brains (1500 cc) than Homo sapiens (1350 cc).
If we de-extinct them, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't need ChatGPT.
If they don't come back, don't worry. Modern humans have 1-4% Neanderthal DNA in their genomes.
If we de-extinct them, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't need ChatGPT.
If they don't come back, don't worry. Modern humans have 1-4% Neanderthal DNA in their genomes.
Mani pedi & more
It's not just their nails. Sloth nervous systems are "wired in reverse" for reflex hanging.
Antigravity muscles prevail w/midbrain lesions.Decerebrate cats "stand" erect w/rigid extensor muscles but in 1926 it was found that decerebrate sloths hang w/rigid flexor antigravity muscles
It's not just their nails. Sloth nervous systems are "wired in reverse" for reflex hanging.
Antigravity muscles prevail w/midbrain lesions.Decerebrate cats "stand" erect w/rigid extensor muscles but in 1926 it was found that decerebrate sloths hang w/rigid flexor antigravity muscles
September 1, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Mani pedi & more
It's not just their nails. Sloth nervous systems are "wired in reverse" for reflex hanging.
Antigravity muscles prevail w/midbrain lesions.Decerebrate cats "stand" erect w/rigid extensor muscles but in 1926 it was found that decerebrate sloths hang w/rigid flexor antigravity muscles
It's not just their nails. Sloth nervous systems are "wired in reverse" for reflex hanging.
Antigravity muscles prevail w/midbrain lesions.Decerebrate cats "stand" erect w/rigid extensor muscles but in 1926 it was found that decerebrate sloths hang w/rigid flexor antigravity muscles
1/Agassiz & me
Drove 15 miles today to a schist outcrop along Rte 1A in Ellsworth ME where in 1864 Louis Agassiz found scratches/furrows pointing north in support of his theory of continental glaciation 13K-25K yrs ago.
Glacial scratches can be seen today!
He ruled out icebergs & Noah's Flood but ..
Drove 15 miles today to a schist outcrop along Rte 1A in Ellsworth ME where in 1864 Louis Agassiz found scratches/furrows pointing north in support of his theory of continental glaciation 13K-25K yrs ago.
Glacial scratches can be seen today!
He ruled out icebergs & Noah's Flood but ..
August 29, 2025 at 5:13 AM
1/Agassiz & me
Drove 15 miles today to a schist outcrop along Rte 1A in Ellsworth ME where in 1864 Louis Agassiz found scratches/furrows pointing north in support of his theory of continental glaciation 13K-25K yrs ago.
Glacial scratches can be seen today!
He ruled out icebergs & Noah's Flood but ..
Drove 15 miles today to a schist outcrop along Rte 1A in Ellsworth ME where in 1864 Louis Agassiz found scratches/furrows pointing north in support of his theory of continental glaciation 13K-25K yrs ago.
Glacial scratches can be seen today!
He ruled out icebergs & Noah's Flood but ..
His "ask" w/4 refs was announced in non peer reviewed "TrialSite News." Peer reviewed Annals of Internal Medicine stood by the 1.2 million child Danish vaccine study w/39 refs.
The Dogs may Bark, the Caravan goes on"
The Dogs may Bark, the Caravan goes on"
August 28, 2025 at 2:33 PM
His "ask" w/4 refs was announced in non peer reviewed "TrialSite News." Peer reviewed Annals of Internal Medicine stood by the 1.2 million child Danish vaccine study w/39 refs.
The Dogs may Bark, the Caravan goes on"
The Dogs may Bark, the Caravan goes on"
Alice's Adventures Underground. Did Lewis Carroll draw his own migraine aura?
Carroll first mentions migraine "fortifications" in his 1885 diary but he consulted an oculist in 1852.
Did his 1862 drawing of mock turtle & gryphon anticipate H. Airy's iconic 1870 tracing of his own migraine teichopsia?
Carroll first mentions migraine "fortifications" in his 1885 diary but he consulted an oculist in 1852.
Did his 1862 drawing of mock turtle & gryphon anticipate H. Airy's iconic 1870 tracing of his own migraine teichopsia?
August 28, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Alice's Adventures Underground. Did Lewis Carroll draw his own migraine aura?
Carroll first mentions migraine "fortifications" in his 1885 diary but he consulted an oculist in 1852.
Did his 1862 drawing of mock turtle & gryphon anticipate H. Airy's iconic 1870 tracing of his own migraine teichopsia?
Carroll first mentions migraine "fortifications" in his 1885 diary but he consulted an oculist in 1852.
Did his 1862 drawing of mock turtle & gryphon anticipate H. Airy's iconic 1870 tracing of his own migraine teichopsia?
The MAGA-ized Smithsonian can revise American mores- just not on my dime. I'm not subscribing.
MAGA need not worry about my dime. Creationists aside, they're gonna love Ales Hrdlicka's (physical anthropologist/eugenicist emeritus) scavenged racial brain collection (WaPo 8/14/2023) & Wall of Skulls.
MAGA need not worry about my dime. Creationists aside, they're gonna love Ales Hrdlicka's (physical anthropologist/eugenicist emeritus) scavenged racial brain collection (WaPo 8/14/2023) & Wall of Skulls.
August 23, 2025 at 5:01 AM
The MAGA-ized Smithsonian can revise American mores- just not on my dime. I'm not subscribing.
MAGA need not worry about my dime. Creationists aside, they're gonna love Ales Hrdlicka's (physical anthropologist/eugenicist emeritus) scavenged racial brain collection (WaPo 8/14/2023) & Wall of Skulls.
MAGA need not worry about my dime. Creationists aside, they're gonna love Ales Hrdlicka's (physical anthropologist/eugenicist emeritus) scavenged racial brain collection (WaPo 8/14/2023) & Wall of Skulls.
Losing my Accommodation
Mid-40s is a visually dangerous age as lens gets stiffer, diopters of accommodation <4, & arms are too short
If progressives don't cut it, consider tri-focals or monovision refraction making one eye near-sighted & the other far-sighted (not a fan)
Or just make the font bigger
Mid-40s is a visually dangerous age as lens gets stiffer, diopters of accommodation <4, & arms are too short
If progressives don't cut it, consider tri-focals or monovision refraction making one eye near-sighted & the other far-sighted (not a fan)
Or just make the font bigger
August 21, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Losing my Accommodation
Mid-40s is a visually dangerous age as lens gets stiffer, diopters of accommodation <4, & arms are too short
If progressives don't cut it, consider tri-focals or monovision refraction making one eye near-sighted & the other far-sighted (not a fan)
Or just make the font bigger
Mid-40s is a visually dangerous age as lens gets stiffer, diopters of accommodation <4, & arms are too short
If progressives don't cut it, consider tri-focals or monovision refraction making one eye near-sighted & the other far-sighted (not a fan)
Or just make the font bigger
Academic conflicts - "because the stakes are so low"
Easy. If a scientist read a typical IMRAD format paper, the audience would achieve REM sleep in seconds
Try JK Galbraith,econ prof:"There seems little question that in 1929,modifying a famous cliche,the economy was fundamentally unsound"
Bored?
Easy. If a scientist read a typical IMRAD format paper, the audience would achieve REM sleep in seconds
Try JK Galbraith,econ prof:"There seems little question that in 1929,modifying a famous cliche,the economy was fundamentally unsound"
Bored?
August 11, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Academic conflicts - "because the stakes are so low"
Easy. If a scientist read a typical IMRAD format paper, the audience would achieve REM sleep in seconds
Try JK Galbraith,econ prof:"There seems little question that in 1929,modifying a famous cliche,the economy was fundamentally unsound"
Bored?
Easy. If a scientist read a typical IMRAD format paper, the audience would achieve REM sleep in seconds
Try JK Galbraith,econ prof:"There seems little question that in 1929,modifying a famous cliche,the economy was fundamentally unsound"
Bored?
What happened to the lion and the sleeping dog (Durer 1514)?
August 7, 2025 at 5:27 PM
What happened to the lion and the sleeping dog (Durer 1514)?
Ship of State
"You can't manage what you can't measure" (Variously attributed to Peter Drucker/ Lord Kelvin/VF Ridgeway)
I guess #47 is a proponent of the "Dead Reckoning" style of management (Left)
So was EJ Smith navigating the ice field off Newfoundland on April 15, 1912 (Right)
SOS
"You can't manage what you can't measure" (Variously attributed to Peter Drucker/ Lord Kelvin/VF Ridgeway)
I guess #47 is a proponent of the "Dead Reckoning" style of management (Left)
So was EJ Smith navigating the ice field off Newfoundland on April 15, 1912 (Right)
SOS
August 4, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Ship of State
"You can't manage what you can't measure" (Variously attributed to Peter Drucker/ Lord Kelvin/VF Ridgeway)
I guess #47 is a proponent of the "Dead Reckoning" style of management (Left)
So was EJ Smith navigating the ice field off Newfoundland on April 15, 1912 (Right)
SOS
"You can't manage what you can't measure" (Variously attributed to Peter Drucker/ Lord Kelvin/VF Ridgeway)
I guess #47 is a proponent of the "Dead Reckoning" style of management (Left)
So was EJ Smith navigating the ice field off Newfoundland on April 15, 1912 (Right)
SOS
What we have here is a failure to communicate (to an on-line audience):
1.Rolling Stones:"to get my fair share of abuse"
2.Walt Whitman:"sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs"
3.Vance Packard: advertising's "Theory of the Marginally Committed"
Pick one... but we may be preaching to the choir
1.Rolling Stones:"to get my fair share of abuse"
2.Walt Whitman:"sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs"
3.Vance Packard: advertising's "Theory of the Marginally Committed"
Pick one... but we may be preaching to the choir
August 3, 2025 at 5:18 PM
What we have here is a failure to communicate (to an on-line audience):
1.Rolling Stones:"to get my fair share of abuse"
2.Walt Whitman:"sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs"
3.Vance Packard: advertising's "Theory of the Marginally Committed"
Pick one... but we may be preaching to the choir
1.Rolling Stones:"to get my fair share of abuse"
2.Walt Whitman:"sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs"
3.Vance Packard: advertising's "Theory of the Marginally Committed"
Pick one... but we may be preaching to the choir
Nullius in Verba. As if!
Oh, just the usual ... toxic-metabolic encephalopathy, T2 hyperintensities on MRI, vestibular migraine, brain fog ... I fear the list of inchoate neurologic "clinical-ese" is endless
Oh, just the usual ... toxic-metabolic encephalopathy, T2 hyperintensities on MRI, vestibular migraine, brain fog ... I fear the list of inchoate neurologic "clinical-ese" is endless
July 31, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Nullius in Verba. As if!
Oh, just the usual ... toxic-metabolic encephalopathy, T2 hyperintensities on MRI, vestibular migraine, brain fog ... I fear the list of inchoate neurologic "clinical-ese" is endless
Oh, just the usual ... toxic-metabolic encephalopathy, T2 hyperintensities on MRI, vestibular migraine, brain fog ... I fear the list of inchoate neurologic "clinical-ese" is endless
Waiting at a Light in NJ
New Tesla models?
1. Stealth Tesla/Toyota (L)
2. Tesla "Apologia pro Vita Sua" (R)
New Tesla models?
1. Stealth Tesla/Toyota (L)
2. Tesla "Apologia pro Vita Sua" (R)
July 22, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Waiting at a Light in NJ
New Tesla models?
1. Stealth Tesla/Toyota (L)
2. Tesla "Apologia pro Vita Sua" (R)
New Tesla models?
1. Stealth Tesla/Toyota (L)
2. Tesla "Apologia pro Vita Sua" (R)
That certain glow..
Curie's thesis is scintillating... but is it radioactive?
After grinding tons of uranium ore to discover radium & polonium, Marie,her husband Pierre, and her 1900 lab notebook- w/ ~3.2 microCuries of radium 226 (1/2 life 1600 yrs)- were all radioactive.
Handle with care.
Curie's thesis is scintillating... but is it radioactive?
After grinding tons of uranium ore to discover radium & polonium, Marie,her husband Pierre, and her 1900 lab notebook- w/ ~3.2 microCuries of radium 226 (1/2 life 1600 yrs)- were all radioactive.
Handle with care.
July 21, 2025 at 1:03 AM
That certain glow..
Curie's thesis is scintillating... but is it radioactive?
After grinding tons of uranium ore to discover radium & polonium, Marie,her husband Pierre, and her 1900 lab notebook- w/ ~3.2 microCuries of radium 226 (1/2 life 1600 yrs)- were all radioactive.
Handle with care.
Curie's thesis is scintillating... but is it radioactive?
After grinding tons of uranium ore to discover radium & polonium, Marie,her husband Pierre, and her 1900 lab notebook- w/ ~3.2 microCuries of radium 226 (1/2 life 1600 yrs)- were all radioactive.
Handle with care.
Dinosaur eyes
Saw Jurassic World Rebirth last week. If birds, esp. cassowaries, are dino descendants, did dinos look out at the world with bird retinas- lots of cones for diurnal vision & a pecten (function unknown)?
Do paleontologists (or Spielberg) know?
Saw Jurassic World Rebirth last week. If birds, esp. cassowaries, are dino descendants, did dinos look out at the world with bird retinas- lots of cones for diurnal vision & a pecten (function unknown)?
Do paleontologists (or Spielberg) know?
July 20, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Dinosaur eyes
Saw Jurassic World Rebirth last week. If birds, esp. cassowaries, are dino descendants, did dinos look out at the world with bird retinas- lots of cones for diurnal vision & a pecten (function unknown)?
Do paleontologists (or Spielberg) know?
Saw Jurassic World Rebirth last week. If birds, esp. cassowaries, are dino descendants, did dinos look out at the world with bird retinas- lots of cones for diurnal vision & a pecten (function unknown)?
Do paleontologists (or Spielberg) know?
1/"Mark but this flea" John Donne
B. OTD 1635 Robert Hooke whose Micrographia displayed an iconographic flea in 1865- the year of the Great Plague of London. Did Hooke contract Bubonic Plague from the pulex irritans he drew? Hooke's "missing" portrait may have been purloined by Newton but ..
B. OTD 1635 Robert Hooke whose Micrographia displayed an iconographic flea in 1865- the year of the Great Plague of London. Did Hooke contract Bubonic Plague from the pulex irritans he drew? Hooke's "missing" portrait may have been purloined by Newton but ..
July 18, 2025 at 4:57 PM
1/"Mark but this flea" John Donne
B. OTD 1635 Robert Hooke whose Micrographia displayed an iconographic flea in 1865- the year of the Great Plague of London. Did Hooke contract Bubonic Plague from the pulex irritans he drew? Hooke's "missing" portrait may have been purloined by Newton but ..
B. OTD 1635 Robert Hooke whose Micrographia displayed an iconographic flea in 1865- the year of the Great Plague of London. Did Hooke contract Bubonic Plague from the pulex irritans he drew? Hooke's "missing" portrait may have been purloined by Newton but ..
Was it designed by Antonio Gaudi in 1914 for the Park Guell in Barcelona?
July 17, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Was it designed by Antonio Gaudi in 1914 for the Park Guell in Barcelona?
MAGA NIH job ad or How to Spot a Crank
Are you?:
Isolated
Paranoid
Self-declared genius
Attacking science icons (duck Isaac!)
Rely on technobabble
Label critics "stupid"
Claim "airtight" unfalsifiable arguments
(credit: Martin Gardner 1952)
Where are Lysenko, Reich, Velikovsky when you need them?
Are you?:
Isolated
Paranoid
Self-declared genius
Attacking science icons (duck Isaac!)
Rely on technobabble
Label critics "stupid"
Claim "airtight" unfalsifiable arguments
(credit: Martin Gardner 1952)
Where are Lysenko, Reich, Velikovsky when you need them?
July 17, 2025 at 12:27 AM
MAGA NIH job ad or How to Spot a Crank
Are you?:
Isolated
Paranoid
Self-declared genius
Attacking science icons (duck Isaac!)
Rely on technobabble
Label critics "stupid"
Claim "airtight" unfalsifiable arguments
(credit: Martin Gardner 1952)
Where are Lysenko, Reich, Velikovsky when you need them?
Are you?:
Isolated
Paranoid
Self-declared genius
Attacking science icons (duck Isaac!)
Rely on technobabble
Label critics "stupid"
Claim "airtight" unfalsifiable arguments
(credit: Martin Gardner 1952)
Where are Lysenko, Reich, Velikovsky when you need them?