Topic: Science

Today on the 21st: we discuss recent changes to school lunch guidelines. We'll also explore how committing a crime can affect someones chance at a college education and learn about new research about whether it's more kind to tell white lies or the full truth. 

The program “Girls Who Code” aims to close the gender gap in technology by getting more girls interested in coding and tech careers. There are more than a thousand Girls Who Code clubs across the U.S.—and a new program is coming to the Champaign Public Library this month.

A new study from the University of Illinois found no link between green space on school campuses and academic outcomes. The study examined greenery and third grade test scores on reading and math exams at 400 Chicago Public Schools. 

There's a big molecule, a protein, inside the leaves of most plants. It's called Rubisco, which is short for an actual chemical name that's very long and hard to remember.

 A new study from researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that several nutrients in the Mediterranean diet are linked to healthy brain connectivity and higher cognitive performance in older adults.

The U.S. meat industry is gigantic, with roughly $200 billion a year in sales and growing. But the industry faces emerging threats on two fronts: plant-based meat substitutes and actual meat grown in labs.

The satellite known as CubeSail is actually two cube-shaped satellites, each weighing less than a five-pound bag of sugar and not much larger in size. It's expected to launch from a rocket at a site in New Zealand Wednesday night. 

In a lab at George Washington University, painted lady butterflies flutter in mesh houses. This is where assistant professor Arnault Martin and his research group use the new gene-editing technique CRISPR to unlock secrets about the colors and spots on the butterflies’ wings.

The environmental advocacy group Prairie Rivers Network holds its annual dinner Friday night at the I-Hotel in Champaign.

On the 21st: Sears, once the largest retailer in the world, which has been headquartered here in Illinois for more than a century, filed for bankruptcy. Plus, as the state celebrates its bicentennial, we check in on the Lincoln museum's latest Top 10 list: scientists. But first, Illinois is home to two of the nation's most competitive Congressional elections.