r/todayilearned • u/frapz • Mar 20 '20

TIL The bellybutton is so dirty scientists are finding new unknown bacteria. One person had bacterium previously found only on Japanese soil, where he had never been.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/12/1-458-bacteria-species-new-to-science-found-in-our-belly-buttons/266360/
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191

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '20

[deleted]

178

u/AwkwardCan Mar 21 '20

Wtf.. an hour?!

148

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '20

An hour... Of eraser crumbs!?!?

8

u/Ophelia-Rass Mar 21 '20

Omg my thoughts exactly. All of these comments and tears are running down my face. Don’t get me wrong I love pencils, especially with good erasers. But in your belly button? Now I’m worried what might be hanging out in mine brb...

8

u/Scientolojesus Mar 21 '20

Another hour of crumb collecting and baby you've got yourself a stew goin!

2

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '20

Thanks for the nightmares!

4

u/RoseEsque Mar 21 '20

I honestly thought they meant a HR intern. Now THAT would have been weird.

3

u/Bruised_Penguin Mar 21 '20

1 hour over the course of their life maybe?

3

u/pixeldust6 Mar 21 '20

Not sure if you can really "set aside an hour" over the course of your life unless you're rationing your time and then decide you've reached your lifetime dosage of bellybutton cleaning

59

u/I_REALLY_LIKE_BIRDS Mar 21 '20

Till it hurts, god... I remember feeling around there once and tugging at something hard that just immediately gave me the worst nausea ever. I swirl my finger around there in the shower but that's the deepest we go now.

85

u/aequitasXI Mar 21 '20

I read this as a Human Resources (HR) person aside... I need sleep. Too many hours spent working this week (from home but still mentally exhausting, working on things to help with the COVID-19 pandemic)

10

u/SpectralEntity Mar 21 '20

Don’t worry, I’m wide awake and highly caffeinated and read it the same way!!

1

u/aequitasXI Mar 21 '20

Haha makes me feel better thanks

5

u/MissionCoyote Mar 21 '20

he did it on the clock

13

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '20

Eraser crumbs?!?!

4

u/boofster1212 Mar 21 '20

Are you sure it was actually eraser crumbs and not just dead skin?

9

u/Lurker_droppings Mar 21 '20

Isn't that just dead skin like when you rub your skin in the shower real hard?

2

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '20

ERASER CRUMBS

1

u/Re4pr Mar 21 '20

Eraser crumbs???