Poor Cecil. When he answered the question on Belly Button Lint 29 years ago, he fluffed it away with an off-hand answer. He little knew that if he persevered in the topic, like this Aussie guy, he could have won a prestigous Ig™Nobel Award from Harvard.
The Aussie guy really went to town, carrying out a survey over the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He garnered considerable anecdotal evidence, such as the link between cleaning one’s belly button with a toothbrush and fungal infections of the mouth, as well as learning about the world’s largest collection of belly button lint, 18 years in the making and recognized by Guiness.
For a recent interview with the Ig™Nobel laureate, go here.
If only Cecil had devoted more time to his research and answer, perhaps he would have an Ig™Nobel on his mantelpiece, contributing to his reputation as the World’s Smartest Human. sigh.
Excuse me. The gist of my answer, published in 1973: “Lint from your clothing, cottons especially, adheres to the wet area and remains after the moisture departs.” The Aussie guy’s finding seems to be that being older, hairier, male, and having an “innie” accelerates the transit of clothing lint into the belly button. In other words, he elaborated on my groundbreaking work. I’ve said this before - I’m a big picture guy. I leave it to the grad students to work out the details, win the prizes, etc.
“If I have seen farther than other men, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants”
– Sir Isaac Newton (wording questionable)
Not to put down my countryman or anything, but he was of course building on the foundation laid by The Great Cecil. That does not diminish his research in any way - the essence of scientific progress is to use the work of the past and further it - but it does mean that Cecil’s groundwork should not be dismissed.
Mentock has a point. The IgNobel prizes are awarded to people that have performed research that cannot or should not be reproduced. So in effect, Harvard are affirming Cecil’s assertion that the details aren’t worth bothering with.
I posted after the guy that posted after Cecil. One degree of separation away from greatness. sigh Always a bridesmaid…
Well, Ike was expressing a nice modest sentiment there, but the fact is that we remember Ike far more than the guys he was standing on. If the analogy holds, doesn’t that suggest the Aussie guy will get more recognition than Cecil in the area of belly button lint?
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki is a reasonably well known scientist in Australia (yes he is a real scientest). Why? Because he imparts knowledge in a way that makes dumb culture take some notice. JJJ for thos who don’t know is a government-owned youth FM radio network. One of those aimed at 15-25 year old kind of deals. Dr K also does road safety messages were he talks about micro-sleeps whilst wearing a loud shirt.
Dr Karl actually went over to accept the award. The point I guess is that even though everyone realises its a fairly unimportant topic (BBL that is) at least it gets science out into the wider community and that has to be a good thing.
One degree of separation away from greatness. sigh Always a bridesmaid…