Belly Buttons Have 1,400 Strains of Bacteria

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I have to admit, I’ve always been a little jealous of those who found belly button lint. Never had any myself. But from now on I’ll definitely keep my fingers away from belly buttons since scientists just found a whopping 1,400 strains of bacteria there. The research is part of North Carolina State University’s Bellybutton Biodiversity Project (yes, it’s a real thing). The project already looks fairly successful because it’s identified 662 microbes that are unclassifiable, suggesting they are new to scientists. Seems that biologists have been too busy to spend much time navel-gazing.

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