Basic research

Okay kiddo, basic research is like when you are learning things just because you are curious and want to know more about them.

Let's say you see a butterfly in the park and you start asking questions like "what kind of butterfly is that?" or "why do butterflies have wings?"

If you went to a scientist and asked them the same questions, they might study butterflies in their lab to try to answer those questions for you. This is called basic research because they are trying to learn more about something just for the sake of knowing it, not because they are trying to solve a problem or create something new.

So kind of like when you ask a lot of "why" questions and are just eager to learn more, scientists do basic research to satisfy their own curiosity and discover new things about the world.