Exploring A Single Belly Button Lint (BBL) With A Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) At RISD’s Nature Lab (The beginning of a new Project)

Thanks to Georgia Rhodes, Visualization and Imaging Research Manager at the Nature Lab for SEM assistance

First we start with a collected BBL and prep it for the SEM

The prepped sample is inserted into the SEM. The locator-cross determines the exact spot that will be scanned. This is the very beginning of a project mapping a single BBL in depth similarly to how astronomers might use telescopes to explore, map, and image galaxies.

Here’s a scan of that exact location. Here you can notice the various fibers and even individual hairs.