ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

New York City Agar

Okay kiddo, let me explain to you about New York City agar.

Agar is this jelly-like substance made from seaweed that scientists use to help grow bacteria in the lab. And in New York City, there are a lot of different kinds of bacteria that scientists like to study.

They use agar to make little petri dishes, sort of like little plates, where they put a tiny bit of the bacteria they want to study. Then they wait and see what happens as the bacteria grows and spreads on the agar.

Scientists can learn a lot about how bacteria works by studying it on agar. They can figure out what kind of food bacteria likes to eat or what kind of medicine can kill it.

So New York City agar is just a special kind of agar that scientists in the city use to study the bacteria that live there. It's not any different from regular agar, it's just used in a special place for a special purpose. Does that make sense to you?