agar

Intermediate 🏥 Healthcare / Medical

Definition

A gelatinous substance extracted from red algae that serves as the petri dish's best friend in microbiology labs worldwide. This wobbly medium provides the perfect nutrient-rich surface for bacteria and other microorganisms to grow and multiply, making it essential for everything from disease diagnosis to high school science projects. Scientists love it because bacteria can't digest it, so it stays solid while the little critters feast on added nutrients.

Example Usage

We streaked the bacteria onto an agar plate and waited 24 hours to see if our hypothesis about the contaminated cafeteria food was correct.

Source: Scientific terminology via Free Dictionary API

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