The world rolls on rubber. There are about one billion vehicles on the world’s roads and highways today, and their number is growing by 60 million every year. Rubber is required for all of them, as the material is used for tires, gaskets, and tubes. Whether natural or synthetic, rubber dominates our everyday lives – and not only in automobiles. In fact, developers and manufacturers make use of this unique material for all kinds of products, from diapers to space shuttles. However, rubber’s evolution from jungle tree sap to a high-tech product was a long one. The milky white substance is associated with roughly 2,000 years of human history and the lives of innumerable adventurers and inventors. What’s more, rubber’s success story is far from over: chemical labs are continuously working to improve synthetic rubber to meet the huge demand for this material in the rapidly growing consumer societies in emerging markets. This research is also ongoing in Germany, where LANXESS still has many aces up its sleeve to meet future challenges. As a result, rubber will remain a uniquely versatile material – one with an eventful history and an exciting future.