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Science Unlocks The Mystery Of Belly Button Lint
After three years of research, including examining 503 pieces of fluff from his own belly button, Georg Steinhauser has discovered a type of body hair that traps stray pieces of lint and draws them into the navel. Dr Steinhauser's observations showed that "small pieces of fluff first form in the hair and then end up in the navel at the end of the day." Chemical analysis revealed the pieces of fluff were not just made up of cotton from clothing. Wrapped up in the lint were also flecks of dead skin, fat, sweat and dust. Unfortunately, further study has failed to yield a hair or fiber that would give Dr. Steinhauser the last three years of his life back.
That's right folks. You read it here first!
This week's educational film will be "Groundbreaking Discoveries of the 21st Centuty!" followed "Zinc Oxide and You".
Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci
Even by idle standards, this is just stupid
Whenever you read these stories that have anything to do with our prehistoric forefothers, you must not forget your foremothers, especially if sex and/or reproduction r concerned.
First, is navel lint sexy? No, take it from me, it isn't.
Is it the least it useful? It sure is, lint is great for startng fires and making nests. Just don't ask me to lay an egg in your fluffy navel. A fire, pøssily
If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
A question that has been keeping me up nights my whole life.
"No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up." -- Lily Tomlin
This must be genetic - I've never experienced this myself and I wear the same kind of clothing like everyone else. Actually, I have, but usually it's my feet eating my socks. Never my innie.
These guys are ripe for a multi-million dollar stimulus award - fuzz-ball research just sounds so good.
So I don't need to clean my navel anymore. Glad that my navel hair has some use at last!
nobody remains virgin, life fscks everyone...
Please Slashdot, keep this kind of stuff off the front page or at-least make it like a sub-post. (Those little mini-categories)
Is this how you want a sophisticated site to look like when a new user views it?
The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
Does anyone else think that if you have that much navel lint, you've got bigger problems than justifying your research?
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
I thought everyone knew that the man who goes around putting fluff in your belly button is the same man who goes around putting bits of carrot in your chunder, even though you haven't eaten carrots for a fortnight...
There are people who think collecting this type of stuff is a good idea? Even up to having contests about how much they have collected. And I thought I was weird just for being a geek.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Wrapped up in the lint were also flecks of dead skin, fat, sweat and dust.
Man! I was eating breakfast!
.
I have mod points,How do I mod bomb the article into oblivion?
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
I have never observed this phenomenon on myself or anybody else...but then I wash regularly. When he says "end up in the navel at the end of the day", I think he really means "end of the week".
Oh no... it's the future.
I take a shower every day. I've never had a problem with lint in my belly button. I have a hairy belly button. I am not fat. Thus, the story should read "fat traps lint", or "people who don't shower accumulate crap in their body creases."
Gaius Baltar is a Java programmer.
So, this is all fairly obvious stuff - I suppose there's some merit in actually examining the lint to determine what is in it, but I'd come to the same conclusions long ago without feeling the need to attach my name to the observations for posterity....
that the bail out money is being well spent.
damn belly button lint.
Why did you read it then? It's not exactly bait and switch. It's EXACTLY what the title sounds like.
If I were a subscriber I could have seen this story early!
WTF? Just when the presidency is starting to science seriously again, we come up with this kind of navel gazing? We can do better than this; we're giving science a bad name.
Some people swim to the depths of the ocean, some look into the infinite space and some morons use it to figure out bodily functions nobody really wants to know. Where do people like this get money to waste? I'm unemployed, I could use this money for more crap
ie. Why is belly button fluff predominantly blue? I believe that the anatomical feature known as a 'navel' or 'belly button' is in actual fact a previously unrecognised organ that serves a vital role in the human body.
As we all know, blood is red. Indeed the red colour of blood is integral to the role it plays in the body. I propose that the belly button is actually a chromatic lung which is capable of absorbing redness from the environment into the blood and similarly expelling excess blueness in order to maintain a healthy balance. This may be the reason that environments containing excess blueness cause people to feel cold: the blood looses redness, in turn diminishing it's oxygen carrying capacity leading to an overall reduction in the metabolism that actually serves to lower body temperature.
Interestingly, there are reports that the navel fluff of aristocrats has a reddish hue, leading to speculation that they are in fact a distinct species. This has yet to be demonstrated under laboratory conditions and remains a controversial area of research.
This is old news. Dr Karl completed a survey and concluded the same result back in 2002. Ref: http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/lint/
It looks just like those dustballs from psp commercials. So that's where they got that idea from...
My Windows is NOT slow, it's special!
Seriously, in face of such global challenges (climate change, water shortage, declining oil supplies), this really at a higher level.
http://www.nrl.navy.mil/
this lab also tends to prefer a particular type of orange.
The reason for belly button lint is clear. Look at the hairs around your belly button; the ones closest to it all point down and in to your belly button. The lint ratchets down the hairs into your belly button, powered by your own movement.
Maybe if we all save up our belly-button lint, we could use it to save AIG, or GM, or both?
"The Economist" has an article this week that "Victory Gardens" are coming back. My grandmother always accused me of trying to grow potatoes in my ears . . . maybe this guy just did some parallel research with naval gardening activities, in these tough economic times.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarlacc
You know, the original one, not the CGI-fest of the Special Editions...
That reminds me of a story I wrote long ago.
-- Cheers!
Why does belly button lint cause urine suds to dissipate in the toilet?
I find a fair amount of loose change and corn chips in my B.B. Thus, I'm canceling my plans to lose some weight.
Table-ized A.I.
...a better lint filter for your clothes dryer. Or a suit bag that helps keep your clothes lint-free. Or a filter to help keep lint out of electronics enclosures. Or any number of other useful applications.
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." - Hanlon's Razor
Skim the headline and move along ... two seconds.
Post about it being a waste of time, twice ... two minutes.
Thrill other slashdotters with the hypocrisy of it all .... priceless!
Infuriate left and right
This guy should be nominated for the igNobel awards.
The igNobel website:
http://improbable.com/ig/
Nominate an candidate. Like this fellow:
http://improbable.com/ig/miscellaneous/nominate.html
Well I get belly button lint every single day. I shower/bathe every day, sometimes twice a day. I am not fat. But I figured this was no mystery: I figured it out and I didn't need a govt grant. I simply think that certain belly buttons with the right amount of hair scrape across the shirt during the day (usually while moving your torso or even just walking) and collect the lint like the screen on a dryer. My lint is always the same color as my shirt, and brand new shirts collect far more lint than older shirts.
"They said I probly shouldn't fly with just one eye," "I am Bender. Please insert girder."
And those lemons are belly-button lint...
Why not study spinning, then knit and embroider a tapestry out of it?
Hell, you could even Call in Sick to do it.
I seriously hope this guy was wasting his own money. Beyond that is the hypocrisy of awarding a PhD to this guy while telling me that I have to be able to remember everything taught in every course from freshman year engineering and be TESTED on it to even QUALIFY to be able to work on a PhD thesis never mind defending that thesis. I call bullsh*t.
That makes sense. It's like a pitcher plant. So people with the most lint have the biggest bellies and vice versa. It all makes sense now.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
A shoo-in! Nominate now at http://improbable.com/
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
But- SCIENTISTS? Do you know people are still dying from CANCER?
Dr Karl even proved if you shave your belly you do not get belly button lint.
Omphaloskepsis
Hands up, how many people guess at the existence of such a word ?
Why is this in my science RSS feed? Can we keep this idle cruft out of the "real news" feeds?
I had but a simple dream, to destroy all humans.
This was obviously funded from the Navel Budget.
Did they fund the study with pubes?
Well this gives new meaning to the phrase "to contemplate one's navel."
There is no security when liberty is sacrificed.
excuse me for being excited, but my hot ass GF just finished her EP and man its sweet! What better way to get a review than my fav. group of geeks. (..and yes, in the realm of geeks, i'm considered a super-geek, even having worked in the "black world") So yes, there is hope for the geeks out there!!! :)
Comments welcomed:
www.leahfairchild.com
oh, feel free to test my geekology.
War is not determined by who is right, but who is left.
Didn't Dr Karl Kruszelnicki win an Ig Nobel prize for similar research in 2002? http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/04/1033538774048.html '...concluded the lint was a combination of clothing fibres and skin cells that were led to the navel, via body hair, "as all roads lead to Rome". "Your typical generator of belly-button lint or fluff is a slightly overweight, middle-aged male with a hairy abdomen," he said.'
I predict at least a nomination for this year's award for Medicine.
This is not news. It's been known about for ages. This is just a story about how some dork figured out how to get funding to research something that's already solved.
Stupid university, sutid.
I don't therefore I'm not.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki won an Ignoble Prize in 2002 for his great Belly Button Lint Survey
I refer you to the theories page for prior research in this area.
insecurity asks the wrong question irritation gives the wrong answer
Please, tell me this guy didn't do this with government grant money!!!
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
And now you know where to go to get some essential proteins, fats, sodium, and minerals! Plus fiber too!
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Man, he REALLY wasted 3 years. Australia's Dr Karl Kruszelnicki accepted an Ig Nobel award in Boston for just such a study back in 2002...
http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/lint/ .
"fluff... flecks of dead skin, fat, sweat and dust..."
So they found the Vista source code. Meh.
This is even creepier than the fur balls the cat throws up which then somehow magically dissapear... (ew)
I sure as heck hope he doesn't eat it.
On first glance this man seems moronic. Although when you think about it, if he got funding for his 'research' he is the most ingenious lazy loaf alive.
I was thinking more along these lines:
Special hair...
Drawing debris into the intestinal area...
Sounds a lot like a primitive sea creature, or even a carnivorous plant.
I wonder if there's any shared evolution/genes here.
Old news: "The reasons for this have been the subject of idle speculation for many years but in 2001, Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki of the University of Sydney, Australia, undertook a systematic survey to determine the ins and outs of navel lint. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navel_lint#cite_note-0
...he's basically been contemplating his navel for the past three years?
No, that's what your appendix is for.
Apparently some primal need from way back in prehistory is fulfilled when you say, "I don't remember eating that!"
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
you mean the man who goes by the name of the Sandman?
If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
This is old new, look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ig_Nobel_Prize_winners#2002 under Interdisciplinary Research
Actually, I do have this problem myself and it caused a small infection that I could only get rid off with a surgery. It was really a pain to heal the infection because the lint just keeps accumulating on the area infected. So I do kind of understand why this guy seems so focused on this topic.
Actually a fantastic point. DNA does not specify the position of every cell within the body - there's not enough complexity there! Instead, it unfolds like a flower - and it can only unfold in so many ways. Why have we not evolved to have the belly button fade to a mere patch of scar over time? Why are sea anenomes shaped the way they are? The answer could be the same - if you tried to change it, something else would change too and you'd be some other organism.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I wish my Alma mater was cool enough to have that class!
I have a bad feeling about this...
In Soviet Union, Naval Lint collect YOU! ... ..
And so do Navel lint.