In 1843 a Portuguese engineer, Jose d'Almeida, described a natural plastic material to the Royal Asiatic Society in London. Gutta-percha, created by boiling the sap of the Malayan gutta tree ...

This new wonder material was called Gutta Percha, after the tree that it came from, and it would blow Victorian minds. Video by Archie Crofton Narration by Emily West Follow BBC Reel on Twitter ...

Gutta-percha was not the only latex material to be associated with Krakatoa’s eruption. Some 15 miles from Krakatoa, sheltering in the lee of a nearby island was the German ship Berbice ...