ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Genome skimming

Okay kiddo, you know that all living things have something called DNA, right? DNA is like a recipe book that tells your body how to make everything it needs to work properly.

Scientists use something called genome skimming to learn about the DNA of different plants and animals. It's like using a magnifying glass to look really closely at the DNA.

Here's how it works: first, scientists take a small piece of tissue or leaf from the plant or animal they want to study. Then, they use special chemicals and machines to break apart the cells and extract the DNA.

Once they have the DNA, they use a machine to make lots of copies of certain parts of it. It's like taking out just the important recipes from a cookbook and making a bunch of copies of them.

Then, they read the copies of the DNA using another machine. This gives them a lot of information about the genetic makeup of the plant or animal!

Scientists can use genome skimming to learn about things like how different species are related to each other, and how they evolved over time. It's pretty cool, huh?