The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the American Association for the Advancement of Science are entering a watching position eight days after the White House terminated all 22 members of the National Science Board. The two clocks they are watching: a White House replacement slate, and a federal-court filing on appointments-clause grounds.

The paper reported the firings Friday as the start of a lost-science thread of its own; a companion piece on the same edition lays out Duke Law's Jeff Powell's argument that the Arthrex citation does not match the remedy. [1] AAAS general counsel's office has, per two senior staff, drafted a complaint targeting the appointments-clause defect; the complaint has not been filed. [2]

The replacement-appointments clock is the more immediate of the two. National Science Foundation grant authorizations require NSB confirmation for major program decisions; the FY26 Q3 cycle begins June 1. Without a replacement slate, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan has roughly thirty days to either secure interim authorization through a temporary committee structure or pause major grant decisions. [3] The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has not signaled a nominee list.

National Academies president Marcia McNutt told Nature on Thursday that the institution is "preparing to convene an independent review panel" if the federal structure becomes inoperable. [4] The phrasing is institutional. The structure is operational. The next eight days produce one of three outcomes: a White House slate, a complaint, or both.

-- ANNA WEBER, Berlin