Two 14-year-olds turned their garages into mouse nurseries — for science

Eva Wishart and Emily Smith, both 14, bred several hundred harvest mice — Britain's smallest native rodent, and the only UK mammal with a prehensile tail — in tanks in their garages, then released them on a Devon nature reserve, where the mice have begun breeding in the wild again. Their project, Wild Pets, advised by ecologist Derek Gow, is now recruiting 20 Devon children aged 8 to 13 as 'citizen captive breeders' to rear 250 more for release. It was a runner-up in Prince William's junior Earthshot competition — and Eva began breeding mice at age 10 after a school talk made her 'the most popular' kid in class.