What We’re Reading: Wimbledon Balls Become Homes for Tiny Mice

What We’re Reading: Wimbledon Balls Become Homes for Tiny Mice

Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Let us know what you think at [email protected].

Mice and men

What happens to the 55,000 tennis balls used at Wimbledon every year? According to a Country Living story shared by RTBC Contributing Editor Geetanjali Krishna, some of them have a delightful and valuable second life: They’re repurposed as homes for the U.K.’s harvest mice.

Geetanjali says:

After watching the gentlemen’s singles final, this story seemed like such a cool solution! Apparently, these mice are threatened by habitat loss and predators, and tennis balls with little cutout doors, mounted on poles, offer a safe, rain-proof haven. And the photos of these tiny rodents nesting in tennis balls are adorable!

Water win

We’ve all heard stories about the water challenges Los Angeles has faced over the years. But a New York Times story shared by Contributing Editor Michaela Haas reveals a surprising fact: As more and more people have moved to L.A., the total amount of water used by residents and businesses has actually decreased. How? As writer Michael Kimmelman puts it: through “simple, practical, boring fixes, like better plumbing, alongside larger transformations in social norms, policies and politics.”

Michaela says:

I find this story fascinating because I hadn’t thought of Los Angeles as a water-savvy city.

What else we’re reading

🌽 In the Mississippi Delta, Black Farmers Are Rebuilding the Legacy of Land Ownership — shared by Editorial Director Rebecca Worby from Capital B News

🏠 LOHA creates affordable housing on challenging site in Los Angeles — shared by RTBC founder David Byrne from Dezeen

🌅 4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment — shared by Rebecca Worby from The New Yorker

In other news…

Back in 2023, Michaela Haas reported for RTBC on the premiere of a special ongoing series at Carnegie Hall: Well-Being Concerts. As Michaela wrote, the series “isn’t only designed to entertain — it aims to deliver tangible health benefits.”

Now, Carnegie Hall has announced its Well-Being Concerts for the 2025–2026 season, featuring such artists as the Grammy Award-winning bassist Esperanza Spalding and tenor Nicholas Phan.