Omphaloskepsis

"Contemplating one's navel" is traditionally used in a derogatory fashion to describe an egocentric or fruitless endeavor, but a recent study has yielded results.

A chemist in Vienna has spent the past four years studying why lint accumulates in the navel. He has concluded that it happens because abdominal hairs catch fibers from clothing and channel them into the navel.

Since March 2005, Steinhauser has collected 503 pieces of navel fluff from his own belly button. The fluff was usually the same colour as the shirt he was wearing, which led him to suspect that it was derived from his clothing.

Steinhauser also chemically analysed a sample of his navel fluff and found that it matched the composition of the T-shirt that he was wearing that day, with a smattering of extra nitrogen and sulphur compounds. These contaminants probably came from sweat and dead skin, he says.

To show his scientific approach, he then subjected himself to an intervention...

He discovered the crucial role of abdominal hair by asking friends and colleagues about the contents of their own belly buttons. "The existence of abdominal hair was a major prerequisite for the accumulation of navel fluff," he says. Shaving off his abdominal hair caused the cessation of navel fluff accumulation until the hair grew back.

He has published his results in the journal Medical Hypotheses, where he postulates that the lint might provide a "cleaning function for the navel," but is sanguine about the implications:

"This paper had no serious background at all," he says.

Photo via NAACAL.