Natural rubber

• Dandelions, love them or hate them, are blooming in abundance all over the UK this spring.
• As an ecologist who studies the insects which visit these flowers, so redolent of sunshine, I have never been able to understand why anyone might hate them.

Flowers in the city

• What makes dandelions so successful in feeding a wide variety of pollinators is the shape of their flowers.
• The evolution of bees is a dance between the changing shapes of flowers and the corresponding length of bee tongues.
• Complicated flowers, like vanilla, evolved to make sure only a certain bee species could pollinate them, whereas others have evolved simple, open flowers that anyone can get pollen and nectar from.
• Take a look at a patch of dandelion flowers and you’ll be amazed at the diversity of visitors.
• A diet lacking in these elements can hamper a bee’s ability to grow, resist disease and raise its young.

Dandelion dawn

• Sadly, at the end of May, all that lovely wildflower habitat could be cut down and sprayed with herbicides.
• Manicured lawns are essentially green deserts: ostensibly full of plants but with nothing to nourish bees or other wildlife.
• The next time you see a dandelion, try to see it as a bee would.

• Stallergenes Greer, a biopharmaceutical company specialising in the research, diagnosis and treatment of respiratory allergies, is pleased to announce its strategic direction for the Stallergenes Greer Foundation.
• I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of our Scientific Board whose experience and vision are strong assets for the foundation,” stated Michele Antonelli, CEO of Stallergenes Greer and Chairman of the Stallergenes Greer Foundation.
• The Stallergenes Greer Foundation will support innovative research projects, encompassing fundamental, applied, environmental and societal research, as well as education.
• In 2023, the foundation will allocate up to €150,000 for outstanding work led either by a young scientist or a mid-career scientist to advance precision medicine in the field of allergy, or outstanding work in the environmental field to advance the prevention and treatment of allergies.

• Data from Allstate Insurance Company of Canada (“Allstate”) shows that while some claims related to water damage are a result of external water infiltrating a home, an often overlooked source of water damage is appliances.
• Burst indoor pipes, faulty toilets, sinks, showers and washing machines were some of the most common causes for damage to a home from an indoor water source.
• Water damage has become one of the leading causes of property damage in the country, with an estimated annual cost of $2 billion.
• Myles offers some tips to help reduce the risk of water damage to the home.

• Bridgestone is also in the process of developing tires comprised of 90% recycled and renewable materials for passenger cars.
• NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) announced today it has produced a run of demonstration tires made with 75%*1 recycled and renewable materials, including synthetic rubber made with recycled plastics and natural rubber*2 harvested from desert shrubs grown domestically, in the Arizona desert.
• These include recycled monomer, produced with recycled materials including plastic bottles, to create the synthetic rubber in the tire1 as well as recycled steel, recycled carbon black, TPO*4-derived carbon black, and bio-based carbon black.
• The new tire is the first street tire to utilize natural rubber derived from the guayule desert shrub cultivated at Bridgestone's guayule R&D agricultural facility in Eloy, Arizona.