Dear Curious,

Believe it or not, the results of a year-long belly button lint survey of some 5000 individuals have recently been released by an Australian scientist-turned-science-commentator, Karl Kruszelnicki. His conclusion? Kruszelnicki suspects that belly button lint is the fibers of clothing (from below the belly button) that get channeled to the navel by hairs acting similar to a conveyer belt, or moshing pit — take your pick. According to his research, belly button lint is more prevalent in hairy than hairless people, and, despite the seemingly sexist nature of this observation, affects more men than women. But Kruszelnicki did find hair-free women who still ended up with lint. Too many abdominal crunches, perhaps? And, as could be expected, people with "innies" are more likely to have belly button lint than people with "outies."

Now the next question on your mind, as with thousands of other curious belly button lint-pickers out there, is obviously, "Why is my lint always blue-gray?" According to the survey, lint color reflects the color of the clothes you're wearing, and most popular colors all taken together produce a blue-gray hue, much the same as they do in dryer lint.

You can take a look at the survey's web site for yourself, but remember, this isn't really scientific. It's the only work on belly button lint as of this date.

Interesting end note: to bust the belly button lint, you can get a navel ring. Apparently, most people who have their belly buttons pierced notice a significant reduction — sometimes even complete eradication — of belly button lint from their adorned midriffs. If cotton swabs and/or fingers fail, lint brushes, rollers, and vacuum cleaners (using the attachments for hard-to-reach places) can help dislodge the lint, but may result in skin irritation, pinching, and strange looks.

Alice