What lurks in your belly button (other than fluff).

[Tank]

What Lives Inside Your Navel?

If you're an innie and not an outie, your belly button is home to at least 60 to 100 or more species of bacteria, fungi and yeasts, according to new research.

The findings, to be presented on August 12 at the Ecological Society of America's 96th Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, demonstrate how a belly button can become a haven for complex biodiversity.

"Although we find about 60 or 70 species on the average person, we have found more than 1400 species overall, such that differences among individuals are great," Rob Dunn, assistant professor in the Department of Biology at North Carolina State University, told Discovery News...

Slow science day today 
So do you have an innie or an outi?
I have a fluff free innie at the moment 

[Willow]

Well I used to have an innie, but it was ripped apart from childbearing so is now very wide and flat.  It was probably a disaster for all those micro-oraganisms which became unseated.  There are not many nooks and crannies left for them to hide in my navel.

[Tank]

Well I used to have an innie, but it was ripped apart from childbearing so is now very wide and flat.  It was probably a disaster for all those micro-oraganisms which became unseated.  There are not many nooks and crannies left for them to hide in my navel.

My wife has been through exactly the same belly button 'reconfiguration'. Makes me glad I was born male!

[OldGit]

Trust me, you don't want to know about my belly button.

[leedan]

  What can we tell about a person when we analyze their naval bacteria types. It may prove to have some sort of character measurement.
   My button seems to become deeper the more my tummy area has increased. My wife actually has a tight innie that emits an odor upon exploration. Hasn't changed even after two children. Now, thanks to Tank, i'll be less inclined to give her a belly rub!

[Tank]

  What can we tell about a person when we analyze their naval bacteria types. It may prove to have some sort of character measurement.
   My button seems to become deeper the more my tummy area has increased. My wife actually has a tight innie that emits an odor upon exploration. Hasn't changed even after two children. Now, thanks to Tank, i'll be less inclined to give her a belly rub!

Sorry, appologies to your wife.