Science Unlocks The Mystery Of Belly Button Lint 161
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.
Stop the Presses! (Score:3, Funny)
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".
Re:Stop the Presses! (Score:5, Funny)
This is one of those guys that was navel gazing back in the 60's and figured out how to get a PHD out of it.
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This is one of those guys that was navel gazing back in the 60's and figured out how to get a PHD out of it.
It looks like he somehow beat Darwin's odds and achieved that...
I wish I'd managed to get a PhuD out of that. Easiest A++ ever!
Re:Stop the Presses! (Score:5, Funny)
ObPCU:
samzenpus: What's he doin?
idle: He's finishing his senior thesis. Steinhauser is trying to prove the hair-free theory: a person with no belly hair does not accumulate naval lint.
samzenpus: That's his thesis?
idle: Yes! That's the beauty of college these days, slashdotter! You can major in naval lint if you know how to bullshit.
Re:Stop the Presses! (Score:5, Funny)
No, the study is on navel lint, the lint that accumulates in the navel. Naval lint would be the lint that accumulates on warships, or on members of the Navy. For instance, if you take the wetsuit of a SEAL and put it in the drier, and then clean out the lint trap, the result will be naval lint. Now, if you clean out the belly button of an Admiral, the result is naval navel lint. Or perhaps navel naval lint.
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To bad he wasn't a Naval gazer... he could have prevented a disaster like this: http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/16/1349257 [slashdot.org]
-Rick
Re:Stop the Presses! - Why, he's wrong (Score:2, Funny)
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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!"
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you mean the man who goes by the name of the Sandman?
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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".
More shocking discoveries of the 21st Century! Science shows that an absolute first post can, in fact, be redundant, despite there being no preceeding posts on, or off, topic!
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sorry pal....
Read it there [tagesschau.de] yesterday.
Think like a Cavewoman (Score:2, Funny)
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
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Re:Think like a Caveplant (Score:3, Funny)
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.
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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.
Well, now I can sleep at night (Score:5, Funny)
You didn't already know this? (Score:2)
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.
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That does it. There must be funding for head cheese studies and I want it - the funding that is.
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Uhhh, what is "head cheese"?
Never heard of that before.
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Ahhhhh. Well that is disgusting. Being circumsized at birth, I had no idea what it is.
Find the responsible genes (Score:3, Funny)
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.
Re:Find the responsible genes (Score:5, Funny)
Wait, is it too late to retract my last statement?
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I can't recall having this be an issue in my case. I wear t-shirt 90% of the time that i am out and about. I wear some kind of shirt anytime i'm out. I do have some soft/fuzzy (almost wrote fussy) hair near my navel.
I really have to think that any heavy lint collection is due unbathed/unkempt hygiene, or laundry being hang-dried in dusty areas, or place in a malfunctioning dryer, or sleeping in a hella lint-filled bed.
Interesting this comes out around Lint Season/Ash Weekend.
(I wonder if by brand/ply/coarse
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Perhaps you're just not fat, hairy, or sweaty enough to collect belly button lint. But then, you're a Slashdot reader, so that can't be it...
Please listen to your readers. (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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I even have Idle set to NO, but still this showed up. Ug.
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I even have Idle set to NO, but still this showed up. Ug.
And yet, even you came to the dark side, and posted...for shame.
Re:Please listen to your readers. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Please listen to your readers. (Score:5, 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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"Sorry if you noobs can't take it."
I didn't want to. I always thought it was The Tooth Fairy's older mentally challenged brother that put it there.
Now I am bereft of just one more aspect of my innocence!
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Isn't it kinder to let them know up front?
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Picture = horrible! (Score:2)
Does anyone else think that if you have that much navel lint, you've got bigger problems than justifying your research?
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I dunno. Seems like you wouldn't have that much trouble at all, and, in fact, it could be quite beneficial. For instance, I made that rug your standing right now out of mine.
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I'm pretty certain it's actually from a lint trap in a dryer.
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On the other hand, having just RTFA,
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Unfortunately, the fact that he's been behaving so unusually regarding his navel pretty much invalidates any tests he could do on it.
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That picture looks like what you pull out of a clothes dryer's filter. I assumed it was a joke prop.
Collectors (Score:2)
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.
Appitiser (Score:2)
Wrapped up in the lint were also flecks of dead skin, fat, sweat and dust.
Man! I was eating breakfast!
Problem solved! (Score:2)
And now you know where to go to get some essential proteins, fats, sodium, and minerals! Plus fiber too!
I have mod points (Score:5, Insightful)
I have mod points,How do I mod bomb the article into oblivion?
Re:I have mod points (Score:5, Funny)
You can't, you already replied to it, indicating you have interest in the topic. :)
Gross (Score:3, Funny)
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".
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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".
I had to quote this as it makes me think you have the WORST belly button lint of anyone.
Wow, new hygiene lows (Score:2)
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I am thin, with 6-pack abs, I shower every day
I think you're on the wrong website...
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I have greasy skin and get belly button lint. (We've already eliminated fat and hairy as the factors, heh heh.) Maybe that's it? Report.
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I take a shower every day. I've never had a problem with lint in my belly button.
I shower once every three days and tend to pull ball of 5mm of lint from my belly button between those times. Why do you think the lint is a "problem"? All the girls I know think it's funny.
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interesting (Score:1)
damn belly button lint.
Beat the rush? (Score:5, Funny)
National Budget (Score:1)
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The researcher is from the Vienna University of Technology, in Austria. I doubt this was funded by US taxpayers.
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People who view science purely from a utilitarian viewpoint of wanting instant monetary or technology returns like you are the reason for the death of the US lead in the sciences.
Also, as the other poster pointed out, he's not doing his research at a US institution, and I'd like to further point out that this is most likely a personal project of his. His usual research is a bit drier. [google.com]
Study Ignores The Important Issue (Score:5, Funny)
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.
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You may discover that there is a space-time/gravitational element to this conversation.
That the blue or red shifting of belly button lint may have to do with a hidden element found in the lint that actually warps space-time, causing the observed red or blue shift in the local light as well as a possible secondary time dialation effect. Upcoming experiments with navel lint at Lawrence Livermore will soon determine if Belly Button Lint is the missing ingredient making Fusion a viable technology today.
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So kind of like a dark sucker [dslextreme.com], then?
p
Dr Karl (Score:2, Informative)
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Unfortunately, it seems we Australians don't actually exist. We're figments of our own imaginations (wait... what?).
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Just like a dustball (Score:1)
Deserves a Nobel Prize (Score:2)
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Like Velcro (Score:1)
Was that the Higg's Boson in that guy's palm? (Score:2)
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.
Story (Score:1, Redundant)
That reminds me of a story [tjerkstra.org] I wrote long ago.
Can someone tell me (Score:1)
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Probably for the same reason that putting your finger in your soda makes the bubbles dissipate. [yahoo.com]
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Why does belly button lint cause urine suds to dissipate in the toilet?
Either you need less soap in your diet, or you are drinking your beer way too fast.
Profit "Center" (Score:1)
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.
And next... (Score:1)
...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.
Nominee for igNobel awards. (Score:1)
This guy should be nominated for the igNobel awards.
The igNobel website:
http://improbable.com/ig/ [improbable.com]
Nominate an candidate. Like this fellow:
http://improbable.com/ig/miscellaneous/nominate.html [improbable.com]
oH boy... (Score:2)
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 old
Did this guy get a research grant? (Score:2)
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.
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If you're crying about how this guy doesn't deserve his PhD, you obviously don't deserve yours. What if the navel lint problem is the key to understanding the zero-point field or something? I bet you'd feel real stupid then! YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND TIME CUBE
Hair actually traps it? (Score:2)
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.
I'm pretty sure this merely a case of (Score:2)
Hands up, how many people guess at the existence of such a word ?
Idle, not Science (Score:2)
Why is this in my science RSS feed? Can we keep this idle cruft out of the "real news" feeds?
Just a repeat of Ig Nobel 2002 research? (Score:2, Informative)
Calling the Ig Nobel committee.... (Score:3, Insightful)
I predict at least a nomination for this year's award for Medicine.
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You're quite right! So idle clearly is no less immune to dupe-a-philia than the rest of /.
Pfft old news... (Score:2)
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki won an Ignoble Prize in 2002 for his great Belly Button Lint Survey [abc.net.au]
I refer you to the theories [abc.net.au] page for prior research in this area.
Please, for the love of god, stop complaining (Score:2)
Why did you read it then? It's not exactly bait and switch. It's EXACTLY what the title sounds like.
Re:Please, for the love of god, stop complaining (Score:5, 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.
ObJoke (Score:5, Funny)
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!
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It's not hypocritical to complain about something that bothers you per se. After all, I'm not wasting everyone's time on the front page with it. You actually have to go into the comments section to see it, and you wouldn't even see this post without clicking if people with mod points didn't agree.
On the other hand, wasting time complaining about other people wasting time complaining...
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On the other hand, wasting time complaining about other people wasting time complaining...
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So you just skimmed the title and the summary, inadvertently failing to notice the idle tag, then clicked the link even though the story was clearly related to belly button lint. Moreover, having done so by what I can only assume is the purest accident, you read through the comments, and picked one to respond to?
No. Actually, I read the summary (which was the entire article for Slashdot purposes), was unimpressed with the content, then noticed the title with the Idle tag. I didn't click the link to the story, because it didn't interest me, and it was no coincidence that I read through the comments, because I was looking for similar minded people already complaining about its lack of front-page quality.
Why? Because to me, people griping about the story sucking was more interesting than the story itself. Your mil
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A) Clicking on the link to read the comments was your choice, and...
B) You must be really new to Idle to expect anything else of the comments found on articles there.
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Have to post anon, can't undo the downmod of your post a few ones up.
You're a professional complainer then?
And so it seems a waste of space, just ignore what you don't want to read and get on with your life, it's short enough already.
No irony there either. (And your futile attempts to mod me down shall only make me stronger!)
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I'd just like to point out that you can simply turn Idle off if you don't like it and kwitchyerbitchin.
http://slashdot.org/users.pl?op=edithome [slashdot.org]
I expect that I'll never again see a post from any of you complainers in Idle, yes?
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I don't blame you for not RTFA
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