Petri dish
The Petri dish is one of a small number of laboratory equipment items whose name entered popular culture. It is often used metaphorically, e.g. for a contained community that is being studied as if they were microorganisms in a biology experiment, or an environment where original ideas and enterprises may flourish.&lt;ref name="merriam-webster.com/dictionary/petridish"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt;