Could free school lunches have lifelong health benefits? Why don't kids get as sick as adults from the coronavirus? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of August 30 - September 5 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's bitesize edition of the best of science news from around the world, discover how researchers could be using your Facebook data for scientific research, and discover the sweet secrets of beetroot and what the link is between it and the smell of rain on a dry surface. ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts within their respective areas of interest and expertise also cover many other important and exciting topics. Why not have a read, inform yourself, and indulge your scientific curiosity?

• Access to free school lunch creates health benefits for a lifetime by Sam Zlotnik for Massive Science.

  

  A study of India’s Midday Meal program shows clear nutritional benefits that are even passed on to the next generation.
  Credit: woodleywonderworks via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

  
  
• Why don’t kids tend to get as sick from Covid-19? by Sara Reardon for Knowable Magazine.
• Researchers might be using your Facebook data in their papers by Elliot Eva Ping for Massive Science.
• Misinformation protests, pediatric cases, and more coronavirus news by Eve Sneider for Wired.
• New evidence against the Standard Model of Cosmology by Sabine Hossenfelder at Backreaction.
• Beetroot and sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) by Natalie Fey and Chris Adams at Picture It Chemistry. 

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