I recently wrote about the slow dismantling of the U.S. medical and scientific infrastructure. And just two weeks later, I'm sad to report it is about to get worse. Much worse.

On August 7, President Trump signed an executive order that could fundamentally restructure how federal research grants are awarded. On the surface, this change may sound like a small, bureaucratic procedural shift, but procedure is policy and, in this case, policy is politics. In fact, this order is a direct power grab that threatens to undo decades of scientific progress.

How so? The order directs a move to take away final decision-making authority for federal grant approvals and awards from scientific review boards and hand it to people appointed by Trump to serve at these agencies. (The chief qualification

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