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Science Unlocks The Mystery Of Belly Button Lint

Posted by samzenpus on from the extreme-navel-gazing dept.

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.

6 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Please listen to your readers. by Drakin020 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

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    1. Re:Please listen to your readers. by yoshi_mon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What is so very wrong with adding a bit of humor to life?

      I've been here on /. for a long time now. Adding the silly topic has been the norm every now and then.

      Sorry if you noobs can't take it.

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      Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
  2. I have mod points by the_Bionic_lemming · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have mod points,How do I mod bomb the article into oblivion?

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    _ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
  3. Re:Picture = horrible! by interkin3tic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    On the other hand, having just RTFA,

    Mr Barker has been collecting his own navel fluff in jars every day since 1984. The achievement has won him a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the world's largest collection of navel lint.

  4. Re:Please, for the love of god, stop complaining by Valdrax · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because it's on the freaking front page. It's easy to either overlook the "Idle" tag in the title, when you're just skimming the story bodies or to get curious despite knowing better. I mean, it's like telling someone not to think of elephants -- it's too late already.

    So why not complain? Idle is on rare occasions amusing to read when you've exhausted everything *else* that you normally read online, but it's not like it's "A-list" material* that deserves to be on the front page.

    * Even for relative definitions of "A-list" material.

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    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  5. Calling the Ig Nobel committee.... by nsayer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I predict at least a nomination for this year's award for Medicine.