Although less recognized--and less glamourous--than most biodiversity hotspots, the human bellybutton harbours it own diverse collection of species, and these species tell us something about ourselves. That's the premise behind the Belly Button Biodiversity Project, which is getting some press for its large-scale sampling of bellybutton bacteria. For interesting discussion about where the data could lead, see Rob Dunn's (one of the researchers) website. His post, including the comments, hints at how much there is to learn about the ecology of human bacteria.
Update: Rob Dunn has now published a book "The Wild Life of Our Bodies", telling more stories of our changing relationships with other species.
2 comments:
This blog is so interesting. I must say that at first I thought it would be a waste of time, but after reading your post was impressed with its quality. I just hope that over time you continue maintaining the same quality, and most of the same passion at the time of writing.
Make sure that you just pursue to come up with a discussion designed to make everybody share more. Anyone will need to be leery at exactly what you said or maybe you will likely to be placed into a situation where not one person will ever reply.
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