1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey Brainstuff, 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogel bomb here pop quiz. Do you think the 3 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: reason that you have an any or an outy belly 4 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:15,880 Speaker 1: button has something to do with the way that your 5 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:18,639 Speaker 1: bilical cord was cut and tied when you were born? 6 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: Come on, be honest. The persistence of the any outy 7 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:26,439 Speaker 1: myth is exhibit a that we don't know jack about 8 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: our belly buttons. Your belly button is indeed the leftover 9 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,279 Speaker 1: remnant of what was once the umbilical cord, the ropelike 10 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,519 Speaker 1: connection between you and your birth parent, which supplied all 11 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: of your nutrients and oxygen when you were in the womb. 12 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,560 Speaker 1: When you were born, someone helping with the birth likely 13 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:45,919 Speaker 1: cut the umbilical cord a couple of inches away from 14 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: your belly and clamped off the remaining section. There's no 15 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: actual tying involved. Once it's clamped, the small section of 16 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: umbilical cord dries up and falls off in about a week. 17 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: What's left is the umbilicus, commonly no own as the 18 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: belly button, and the shape and size of the belly 19 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,680 Speaker 1: button depends entirely on the way that your skin heals 20 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: after the cord falls off. If you have an audie, 21 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: it's likely due to a mild umbilical hernia or slight infection. 22 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 1: At the site, a roughly of people have anies and 23 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: it's a jungle in there. According to a delightfully odd 24 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:26,400 Speaker 1: scientific initiative called the belly Button Diversity Project, belly buttons 25 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 1: are home to a startling diversity of bacteria. The project 26 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: started back inn at North Carolina State University when a 27 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: team of young researchers got the idea to explore the 28 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,960 Speaker 1: microbiome of the belly button. Would the bacteria colonies the 29 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: navel be different from those found on the rest of 30 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: the body. Using RNA sequencing, the researchers identified two thousand, 31 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty eight different species of bacteria living 32 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: in the navels of sixty volunteers. For reference, there are 33 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,040 Speaker 1: only half as many species of birds or ants in 34 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: North America. Although eight species of bacteria dominated the belly 35 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: button microbiome, accounting for of the total population, there was 36 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:15,240 Speaker 1: still incredible diversity among individual subjects. For example, no single 37 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: bacteria were found in every belly button, and two thousand, 38 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 1: one and eighty eight of the species were only found 39 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 1: in ten percent of sampled belly buttons. But what about 40 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 1: what's behind your belly button. We're not talking about navel gazing, 41 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: what's literally back there. Because just as your belly button 42 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: is a leftover remnant of the external umbilical cord, there 43 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: are also internal vestiges of the prenatal connection with your 44 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: birth parent. Remember that the purpose of the umbilical cord 45 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: is basically to circulate the carrier's nutrient and oxygen rich 46 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: blood in and out of the growing fetus. To do this, 47 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: the umbilical cord contains two types of lifelines, an umbilical 48 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: vein that delivers blood to the baby and two umbilical 49 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: arteries that carry waste and carbon dioxide out of the 50 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: baby and back into the parent, whose body can then 51 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: dispose of them. Inside the growing fetus, those umbilical veins 52 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:16,240 Speaker 1: and arteries connect to the circulatory system, the liver and 53 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: the bladder. When the baby is born takes its first 54 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: lungfull of air and the umbilical cord is cut, the 55 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: internal sections of the umbilical veins and arteries also dry 56 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:29,639 Speaker 1: up and harden into a type of ligament, but those 57 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: ligaments are still attached to the inside of the belly button. 58 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: One of the ligaments connects and bisects the liver. Another 59 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: stretches down into the pelvis, where portions of it may 60 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: still function as part of the circulatory system near the bladder. 61 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: In some babies, the vestigial artery running from the bladder 62 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 1: to the navel doesn't close entirely, and urine may leak 63 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: out of the belly button. A simple surgery can close 64 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: it back up, and if the eyes are the windows 65 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: to the soul, then the belly button is the window 66 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: to the gall bladder. In the field of minimally invasive surgery, 67 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: more surgeons are performing major procedures without serious scarring by 68 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: going through the belly button. Laparoscopic surgery is a type 69 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: of minimally invasive surgical procedure where surgeons make a small 70 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 1: incision in the navel and insert a laparoscope, which is 71 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: a telescope like tool with a light on the end 72 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 1: that enables doctors to see what's going on inside the 73 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: gut without opening up a large incision if tissue needs 74 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: to be biopsied or removed. Traditionally, one or more additional 75 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: small incisions are made to allow access, but now there's 76 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: a growing interest in single port laparoscopic surgery, wherein both 77 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:45,200 Speaker 1: the laparoscope and flexible surgical instruments are inserted through a 78 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: special port plugged into a single incision in the belly button. 79 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 1: Not only is scarring hardly visible, but a single incision 80 00:04:53,440 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: shortens recovery time and lowers the RISKOD infection. Today's episode 81 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 1: is based on the article five things you Didn't know 82 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:07,479 Speaker 1: about your belly button on how stuff works dot com, 83 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: written by Dave Rouse. Brain Stuff is production of by 84 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:12,799 Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com 85 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: and is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my 86 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 87 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.