Ok, this is an experiment I was reading a few days ago and it really blew my mind on so many levels.
At first it feels a bit idiotic. Yet the results were imo mind blowing.
Enter... Project Belly Button 😅😂
Ever wondered what's lurking in your butt hole belly button? Other than dirt since eons ago?
Well, back in 2011 a bunch of researchers launched the Belly Button Biodiversity Project and set out to answer this question. And the results were more diverse than what you may expect.
Turns out belly button are really really dirty and house all kinds of microbiota.
In total they swabbed 60 belly buttons, a relatively small number... Yet t discovered over 2,300 unique species of bacteria, with possibly half of them being totally new to science.
Surprisingly, one belly button had a bacteria that previously was only known from soil in Japan. A place the volunteer had never been before! And two belly buttons came positive for extremophile bacteria that are known to thrive in ice caps and thermal vents, lmao 😂
On average, each belly button hosted 67 different species with not even one being common to every person. But eight were found on at least 70 percent of the sample.
Imo, the experiment was really cool and according to the news articles and press releases from that time there were plans to enroll more people.. The plan was to make it a citizen science experiment where you swabbed your belly button, mailed it to them and help the research. They even planned to run a similar project for arm pits!
Unfortunately, it seems like the idea was halted for whatever reason.. Probably a lack of funding which is a pity. Who knows what other kind of weird bacteria and stuff they would have found. I guess we will never know 😔
Here's a video about the project from that time...
Tldr, belly buttons are dirty. 😂
References & Further Reading