Girl, 6, Smashes Women's Rubik's Cube Record

Rubik's Cubes usually frustrate adults, but a 6-year-old in China is now blitzing them all in about four seconds. State media say Lian Yunzhi has twice broken the women's 3x3 "speedcubing" average world record over three days at World Cube Association events in Wuhan and Guangzhou, logging averages of 4.52 and 4.27 seconds over five solves, reports CBS News. Broadcaster CCTV calls the Chengdu girl, nicknamed "Zhizhi," the first female cuber to average under 4.5 seconds.

Her mother says Lian practices two to three hours daily and has learned more than 1,300 solving algorithms after starting cubing as just another extracurricular, alongside dance and music, per AFP. Lian's mom touts the hobby as sharpening focus, memory, and logic—less about rote formulas, she says, than reasoning out the fastest solution. Check out Lian's super-speedy solving skills here.