Belly Button Research

Today at work I was doing what I normally do--going through a number of patents. This sentence in one of the patent applications* caught my eye:

This invention was made with U.S. Government support under grant N00014-94-1-4457 from the Office of Navel Research.

Really? I wonder what the competition is like in getting a grant from the Office of Navel Research? And, how much is there to study about belly buttons? Maybe I left academia too soon.

*For those who want to check it out yourself, it's US patent application number 20050037975