#PHOTODESK ACTIVITY BUTTON SKIN#

#PHOTODESK ACTIVITY BUTTON SKIN#

Karl conducted an online survey where he asked people whether they had belly button lint, what color it was, and details about their skin and body. Karl, decided to find out exactly where belly button lint comes from and why some people are afflicted (blessed?) with it and others aren't.ĭr. Back in 2002, an Australian scientist and radio personality named Karl Kruszelnicki, aka Dr. A simple surgery can close it back up.īelly button lint, like earwax and toe jam, is one of the great unspoken mysteries of the human body. In some babies, the vestigial artery running from the bladder to the navel doesn't close entirely and urine leaks out of the belly button. Another stretches down into the pelvis where portions of it may still function as part of the circulatory system near the bladder. One of the ligaments connects and bisects the liver.

But those ligaments are still attached to the inside of the belly button. When the baby is born, takes its first lungful of air, and the umbilical cord is cut, the internal sections of the umbilical veins and arteries also dry up and harden into a type of ligament. Inside the growing fetus, those umbilical veins and arteries connect to the circulatory system, the liver and the bladder. To do this, the umbilical cord contains two types of lifelines: an umbilical vein that delivers blood to the baby and two umbilical arteries that carry waste and carbon dioxide out of the baby and back into the mother, who can dispose of them. Remember that the purpose of the umbilical cord is basically to circulate the mother's nutrient- and oxygen-rich blood in and out of the growing fetus. Nothing, right? But just like your belly button is a leftover remnant of the external umbilical cord, there are also internal vestiges of the prenatal connection with your mom. The question, 'What's behind your belly button?' sounds like a Zen riddle. Your Belly Button Is Connected to Your Liver One dude (and we're assuming it was a dude) not only carried loads of bacteria in his belly button, but also two species of archaea, 'a domain of life often found in extreme environments and not previously reported from human skin,' wrote the researchers, adding that the individual 'self-reported not having showered or bathed for several years.'Ģ. For example, no single bacteria were found in every belly button, and 2,188 of the species were only found in 10 percent of sampled belly buttons. For reference, there are half as many species of birds or ants in North America.Īlthough eight species of bacteria dominated the belly button microbiome, accounting for 45 percent of the total population, there was still incredible diversity among individuals. Using RNA sequencing, the researchers identified 2,368 different species of bacteria living in the navels of 60 volunteers. Would the bacteria colonies in the navel be different than those found on the rest of the body? The fun started back in 2011 at North Carolina State University, when a team of young researchers got the idea to explore the microbiome of the belly button. According to a delightfully odd scientific initiative called the Belly Button Diversity project, belly buttons are home to a startling diversity of bacteria.

Photodesk activity button