Interesting Ideas

Grays, Essex: I visit an unassuming gorge where a wealth of ice age fossils was once found, telling us about Britain’s megafauna – and Neanderthals

You wouldn’t know the Lion Pit was there. This overgrown gorge exists quietly, without the sensation its name implies, below a housing estate, by Lakeside shopping centre and within earshot of the M25, wedged on all sides as tightly as the newbuilds that line its cliffs. This is industrial West Thurrock, far south Essex, where the wild marshes that still thrive on the Blackwater Estuary, where I live in the north-east of the county, have long since disappeared.

As I arrive, a fox strolls up the road, urbanely cool. It darts over the edge and into the gorge. I follow it. Descend into the pit, and you’re down in deep time. Ice age time, to be precise, because this location has produced some of the most important archaeological finds of Britain’s Palaeolithic past.

Neighbours might look askance at Jarno Coone’s unkempt yard, but the local birds, bees and bats aren’t bothered by the aesthetics

When they moved in about 13 years ago, there was plush green lawn out the front. Nowadays the grass is so high that neighbours fear it could be harbouring snakes. Even the meter reader is a bit wary.

“I’d love to have snakes in the front yard. But they need water. And so they stay down by the river, which is a couple of blocks away,” says Jarno Coone, whose unkempt front yard in Kyneton, Victoria, has been named the World’s Ugliest Lawn 2025.

This follows Chery’s rapid rise in South Africa’s new vehicle sales charts. Chery SA will purchase the land, buildings and associated assets of the Nissan facilities, including of its nearby stamping plant, in mid-2026. South Africa’s automotive landscape is changing, as we have previously covered here. This is actually a ... [continued]

The post Chinese Auto Giant Chery To Acquire Nissan’s Manufacturing Plant In South Africa appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Experts say climate crisis, corruption and lack or misuse of infrastructure among factors driving water conflicts

Water-related violence has almost doubled since 2022 and little is being done to understand and address the trend and prevent new and escalating risks, experts have said.

There were 419 incidents of water-related violence recorded in 2024, up from 235 in 2022, according to the Pacific Institute, a US-based thinktank.

There are a lot of updates out there this week about Tesla “Full Self Driving” (FSD) and Tesla robotaxis. I’m going to try to cover this news here as objectively as possible, but with extra useful context in order to try to provide a relatively complete picture of all of ... [continued]

The post Tesla “Full Self Driving” & Robotaxi News in Texas, China, & LA–NYC — What’s Real & What’s Not? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Study also says Balkan levels are often higher than in Beijing – and sometimes among the highest in the world

When we think of the world’s most polluted cities, images of Delhi or Beijing come to mind, but new data has revealed acute pollution problems close to the heart of Europe.

Prof Andre Prevot, of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland, explained: “In winter, the particle pollution in the Balkans is the highest in Europe. Particle pollution levels are often higher than in Beijing and on some days they are among the highest in the world. Sulphur dioxide in winter can be over 30 times greater than what we normally see in western Europe.”

This year’s RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which begins on Friday, could reveal ‘some surprise migratory visitors’

The chances of spotting a fieldfare or redwing in 2026 have risen, thanks to cold and unsettled weather in Europe, prompting a bumper year in birds migrating to the UK.

The RSPB highlighted the trend on the eve of the Big Garden Birdwatch, an annual event that constitutes the world’s largest garden wildlife survey, which will take place between 23 and 25 January.

Steve Hanley, Larry Evans, and I sat down to talk about the biggest EV story of the year so far. That’s Canada opening up to EV trade with China. This is part of a larger trend of more and more countries of the world looking to China for tech leadership ... [continued]

The post Opening Up EV Trade in Canada, Leaving USA Behind appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars in Mexico are being lead by BYD, which seems to thrive on challenges.

The post BYD Flourishes In Mexico appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The idea that heavy freight would be the last redoubt of diesel has been repeated for decades, often with confidence and rarely with evidence. In December 2025, that idea finally collapsed. Battery-electric heavy duty trucks crossed 50% of new sales in China, a segment that had long been treated as ... [continued]

The post The Assumptions That Broke: China, India, and the End of Fossil Growth Models appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Some bad news from South Africa. In a year which saw the overall market reach levels not seen in well over a decade, BEV sales were unfortunately down 17%. BEV sales were already very low, and one had hoped sales would kick on following years of decent growth, albeit from ... [continued]

The post BEV Sales Down 17% In South Africa In 2025 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

A lot of people have been skeptical about CATL’s new Naxtra sodium-ion batteries, wondering when they would appear in passenger vehicles. The wait is over. We have the answer. Following up on earlier announcements that sodium-ion batteries would be introduced to a wide range of products this year, CATL announced ... [continued]

The post CATL Sodium-Ion Batteries in Passenger Vehicles in July! appeared first on CleanTechnica.

More than 30,000 households left with defects after ‘catastrophic failure’ of Tory government schemes

Members of parliament have called for the Serious Fraud Office to investigate the UK’s home insulation sector, after thousands of householders suffered ruined homes, big financial losses and months of disruption from the “clear and catastrophic failure” of two Conservative government schemes.

More than 30,000 households were left with defects, some of them severe, including mould, water ingress and damage to the fabric of walls, with about 3,000 dwellings so badly damaged they presented immediate health and safety risks to occupants.

Researchers found a new way to filter and destroy Pfas chemicals at 100 times the rate of current systems

New filtration technology developed by Rice University may absorb some Pfas “forever chemicals” at 100 times the rate previously possible, which could dramatically improve pollution control and speed remediations.

Researchers also say they have also found a way to destroy Pfas, though both technologies face a steep challenge in being deployed on an industrial scale.

In recent days, those of us who follow public EV charger installations have seen some encouraging news. In particular, mainstream retailers such as Walmart and Kroger stores will install thousands of EV fast chargers. Having more public fast chargers available at popular retail sites means EV drivers can charge while ... [continued]

The post Over 860 Public EV Chargers Operating At Sheetz & WaWa appeared first on CleanTechnica.

While at CES, the largest technology show in the US, there seemed to be more Chinese cars than US cars. Automakers Geely and GWM had large booths, while Kosmera showed prototypes. Vehicles from NIO and BYD were also being used by exhibitors to show off technologies that they developed within ... [continued]

The post You Can’t Buy This, America (Unless You’re Tearing It Down): Xiaomi YU7 Max appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The Andaman Coast has one of the largest concentration of dugong in the world, so why are numbers falling dramatically and what can they tell us about a biodiversity warning cry

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Thailand’s Andaman Coast is home to one of the largest dugong populations in the world, with 273 of the plump marine mammals, sometimes called sea cows, estimated to be living there as of 2022. In recent years, though, more and more dead or stranded dugongs have been washing ashore. Now the Andaman Coast population may have fallen by more than half, experts say.

In late November, I travelled to Phuket, following in the footsteps of film-makers Mailee Osten-Tan and Nick Axelrod, who have been investigating Thailand’s dugong crisis over the past year for a new Guardian documentary.

The fate of the planet’s coastlines depends on how fast Antarctica’s ice sheets melt. We don’t know what’s coming

‘Every time I look at one, I smile!’: how axolotls took over the world

Labour’s warm homes plan is all carrot and no stick for UK households

Coroner is yet to determine the cause of death of Piper James, a 19-year-old Canadian woman found surrounded by dingoes on Monday

In the early hours of Monday morning, a young woman’s body was found being mauled by a pack of dingoes near a shipwreck on a windswept stretch of white sand beach on an island off the east coast of Australia.

The island was K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island, in southern Queensland, home to about 150 human inhabitants and a population of dingoes genetically distinct from those on the mainland. Called wongari in the language of its Butchulla traditional owners, the lean yellow and white canids are sacred to the First People and indelibly entwined in the cultural fabric of this world-heritage listed sand island.

Pollution from wood burners kills thousands but proposed emissions limit would cut toxic particles by 10%

New wood-burning stoves will carry a health warning highlighting the impact of the air pollution they produce, under UK government plans.

Ministers have also proposed cutting the limit on the smoke emitted from wood burners by 80%. However, the measure would only apply to new stoves, most of which already meet the stricter limit. The new limit would cut the annual toxic emissions from wood burning in the UK by only 10% over the next decade, according to the consultation.

Florida TaxWatch (FTW) has released a list of Ten Taxpayer Priorities for the 2026 Legislative Session. What areas in the FL statewide tax focus are relevant to citizens in other US states and around the world? What is hidden in eloquent taxation language? How will these proposals affect initiatives for ... [continued]

The post How A Revisionist Tax Focus Is Affecting Us appeared first on CleanTechnica.