Myriant Technologies LLC has just won U.S. Department of Energy funding of up to $50 million to construct a new plant that will produce Succinic Acid from sorghum, using a biobased process that is more energy efficient than conventional methods, and also absorbs more carbon dioxide than it produces.  Rubber duckies may contribute to the elimination of global warming!

"This is not your average survivor story.  A 90-year-old woman from Walnut Creek, Calif. credits a rubber duck for saving her life after she got stuck in her bathtub for three long days."  A gut wrenching story with a happy ending that rubber duck fans won't want to miss!

"NASA scientists have dropped 90 yellow rubber ducks into holes in Greenland's Jakobshavn glacier in an attempt to understand why glaciers speed up during summer months as they slip into the sea. The ducks, attached to a football-sized probe, have an email address and message prompting anyone who discovers the ducks to contact NASA to reveal where and when the duck was found. There is an undisclosed award for anyone who finds one of these rubber global warming crusaders. The NASA scientists, based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, hope this campaign will shed new light on the melting mechanisms behind Greenland's fastest moving glacier."  Will rubber ducks soon be launched into space?

Reuters via NBC News
Toy Removed from Dog after 5 Years

The history of the first rubber duck is not known but is related to the history of rubber manufacturing, early rubber (and later synthetic rubber) toys including cars and dolls, and also the history of squeak toys. Many of the earliest rubber ducks were not bath toys at all.  Some may be equipped with a squeaker that makes noise when the toy is squeezed, resembling the quack of a real animal. Today, most of these toys are made of vinyl plastic. These toys have achieved status as a popular icon and, while still primarily considered a children's toy, are used and loved by people of all ages.

With their popularity has come the ability to parody the standard yellow ruber duck. Buyers can find them in various colors, sizes, and molded-on outfits to suit any occasion. This toy is an icon in at least American culture; it appears frequently in pop art culture. Some charities have run a  race in which hundreds or thousands of these toys are dumped into a stream or river and the first one to float past the finish line is a winner. The regatta is also a popular event for fundraising.  In recent years, this practice has lessened as ecologists have frowned upon what amounts to a tremendous amount of trash released into freshwater systems.

Background information extracted from answers.com

The Rubber Duckie Song
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