ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Cellular homology

Cellular homology is like building a big castle with blocks. You start with a big base block, like a square. Then you add other blocks on top of it, like a rectangle or a triangle. Each block is connected to the one below it, so it's like a big tower of blocks.

Now imagine that each block in the tower is like a cell in a living thing. They are all connected to each other, just like the blocks in the tower. You can count how many cells are in the living thing, or how many blocks are in the tower.

But now imagine you want to know more about the living thing than just how many cells it has. You want to know how they are connected to each other. This is what cellular homology does. It looks at how the cells are connected to each other, and it uses math to describe this connection.

For example, imagine you have a living thing that has four cells that are connected to each other in a specific way, like a square. Cellular homology can describe this as a loop: there is a connection that goes around the square and comes back to where it started.

Now imagine a living thing that has cells arranged in a different way, like a triangle. Cellular homology can describe this as having no loops or a different kind of loop.

So cellular homology is like a way to count and describe how cells are connected to each other in a living thing using math. It's like building a tower of blocks, but with living cells.