Most natural rubber comes from rubber trees in Southeast Asia, but this source is now under threat from a fungus. Researchers have optimized the Russian dandelion to make it suitable for large-scale ...

Michael Fraley, a Vice President with Yulex Corporation, cuts a guayule plant that can be used to make natural rubber, in 2008 David Kadlubowski/Corbis Rubber can be made from the latex of several ...

Microbial fermentation holds promise for making three renewable rubber intermediates: isoprene, isobutene, and butadiene. The compounds cover a wide swath of ground for the rubber-making industry.

THE rubber shortage, the gravest material crisis this country has ever faced, is at last on the road to solution. Synthetic rubber has turned the corner. Big factories are rapidly coming into ...