Instead of taking fingerprints maybe the police should start swabbing our belly buttons. That was a ridiculous point one group of researchers from the North Carolina based research project called Belly Button Biodiversity. But the ridiculous nature of the point was only made to illustrate the truth that it could be possible. You see the research spent the first year swabbing belly buttons and they found that out of the 60 belly button swabs there were over 2,368 species of bacteria. And each profile was unique!
The group has explained that it is like exploring the depths of Earth’s majestic ocean, there is much to be learned and discovered when exploring the bacteria that hangs onto to our belly button. National Geographic even reported that 1,458 species of these bacteria found were never seen before: they were new to science. And then there were the bacteria they found that made absolutely no sense: such as the bacterium that had previously only ever been found in Japanese soil. Only the person had never been to Japan.
They even found bacteria that usually only thrived in ice caps or thermal vents. The belly button is, of course, a part of the human body that has been studied and captured imagination for years. Belly Button Biodiversity even offers the possibility to get swabbed and receive a photo of what is growing in there. They will provide you with a full belly button bacterial profile, though be warned, this does look pretty gross.
Though nobody knows what the profile should or should not contain, dirtier does not necessarily mean you are worse off. Much of the bacteria in the world live in harmony with humans and do not want to kill us at all. They may even be helping you survive. Some doctors do disagree though and state that due to the belly button being used as a surgical access point, it is a good idea to make sure it stays clean.
Some people have reported finding blacked was casts in their belly button area and most likely they should have kept it a bit cleaner. But we are still learning much about the world of bacteria, such as Toxoplasmosis Gondii which was always assumed to be toxic, we now know that it does make up 20 to 30 percent of our brain.
