 The navel, or umbilicus is a moist microbiome of the body (with high humidity and temperatures), that contains a large amount of bacteria, especially bacteria that favors moist conditions such as Corynebacterium and Staphylococcus.The Belly Button Biodiversity Project began at North Carolina State University in early 2011 with two initial groups of 35 and 25 volunteers.Volunteers were given sterile cotton swabs and were asked to insert the cotton swabs into their navels, to turn the cotton swab around three times and then return the cotton swab to the researchers in a vial that contained a 0.5 ml 10% phosphate saline buffer.