Scientists discover rubber from dandelions

This or That?

Paper books or ebooks?

Scientists discover rubber from dandelions

by Shawn Schuster
Aug 8th 2008 @ 6:07PM

Filed under: Home, Plants and Wildlife

With all of the artificial material substitutes out there, did you know that rubber is one of the only natural products that scientists have been unable to recreate in a lab? Not only that, but the natural rubber harvesting process has remaining unchanged for 1,000 years. This makes it a fairly inefficient process, which involves chopping down trees and letting the sap drip into containers. However, we may now have a less expensive and more sustainable natural alternative from every green lawn's worst enemy: dandelions.

Researchers from Ohio State University's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center (OBIC) recently received a $3 million grant to build a processing plant that would turn dandelion root sap into quality rubber for less money than current methods.

Relevant Posts

Eco-friendly diapers! Nature Babycare (Today - 2 Comments)
"Natural" means nothing for food products (Today - 0 Comments)
Virgin forests hold up to three times more carbon (23 days ago - 0 Comments)
Cosmetic labels that don't mean anything (34 days ago - 1 Comment)
Pork raised naturally could be more dangerous than conventional (54 days ago - 0 Comments)

Add your comments

Your comments:

Remember me

E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

Green Daily Video

Green Daily Series

Tip of the Day

Got a fireplace? Fall is right around the corner and as the weather gets colder follow this one simple rule for reducing your carbon emissions.

Learn More

Featured Galleries

Greenland - On the Edge of Global Warming

Puma/Atmos Endangered Species Collection

Here's a bright idea - five of them, actually

Green Daily bloggers (30 days)

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Josh Loposer	83	0
2	Cat Lincoln	52	0
3	Shawn Schuster	47	0
4	Patricia Mayville-Cox	45	0
5	Kelly Leahy	35	15
6	Christina Clark	21	0
7	Kyle Hepp	21	0
8	Rigel Celeste	19	0
9	Laura Malesich	16	1
10	Eugene Sandhu	15	0
11	Sea Stachura	13	0
12	Amanda Miller	12	0
13	Whit Honea	12	0
14	Rebecca Onion	6	0
15	Bruce Watson	6	2
16	Jonathon Morgan	5	3
17	Leslie Wolcott	5	1
18	Deanna Glick	4	0
19	Melissa Schober	1	0

Featured Galleries

Quick Tips and Resources

CasaSugar

Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in:

	Food crimes Starbucks revamps its breakfast menu 'Nutty' advice for reducing heart disease risk
Heidi Montag in Stella McCartney supports NASCAR Dress of the day - Castle Starr brushed silk dress in Ivory eBay WTF of the Day: Britney Spears reject costume	Kids, don't try this at home Chocolate mousse is a perfect summer dessert Holy awesome! Key Lime dream ice cream!
France's Oyster Industry In Trouble Naomi Campbell's Beau Buys Her $18.5 Million Apt. in Brazil Burberry Metallic Leather Shoulder Bag, Handbag of the Day	DNC & RNC have free bikes available! The end of the line for the Vespa PX Protection zones actually aren't protecting coral reefs

Green Daily

This or That?