Outlook Mixtape: It’s a small world

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This week on the Outlook Mixtape, we bring you three tales of life in miniature. Willard Wigan was born in Birmingham in the 1960s and as a child he didn’t have it easy. He struggled at school with dyslexia and his teachers were cruel, routinely humiliating him in front of his classmates. To escape, he took refuge in his garden, where he developed an unusual hobby - making houses for ants. As he got older, his creations got smaller, but it would be years before his rare and unusual gift was noticed. Today, he's broken world records for the smallest sculptures ever made. The vaquita is a tiny porpoise that's made headlines around the world because it's on the brink of extinction. Its rise to fame is in part due to one Mexican man, Dr Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, who's been studying these mammals for over 20 years. His work has put his safety under threat from cartel-supported poachers who work in the areas where the porpoises live. Dr Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho met our reporter, Clayton Conn in 2019. After growing up in Singapore, Margaret Leng Tan became the first woman to earn a doctorate from the Juilliard School of Music in the US. Her career then shrank to a place she didn't expect when she became the world’s first professional toy piano virtuoso. Outlook’s Tara Gadomski went to meet her and and her 30 miniature pianos in 2019. Presented and produced by Zoe Gelber Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707 (Photo: A transparent 60-minute cassette tape with a white label bearing the words: The Outlook Mixtape. Credit: Getty Images)