At the Beijing Olympic Games, 25 world records have fallen - seven of them alone were broken by Michael Phelps of the US. While records being broken are not foreign during the Olympics, the sheer amount of them this year is astounding. Does water in Chinese swimming pools have steroids or something? Nah - according to New Scientists, the answer lies in the architecture of the Beijing pool. More after the link.

A total solar eclipse is one of the most beautiful things to see in all of nature. Unfortunately, it's also rare, and you have to be in the right place at the right time to see one so it's quite difficult to get to actually see one. The world seems to be conspiring to make sure that the eclipse on August 1 would be one of the most difficult to see, but don't worry, there are alternatives. Story in the full article.

A piglet with a monkey's face was born in China. I cannot, in good conscience, crop the picture of said mutant pig-monkey and place it here in the short version, so here's Spanky Ham for you. You'll just have to see it in the full article if you think you can handle... DNA GONE MAD!

A lot is happening in the world around us. And in space above us. And inside the mice that scientists used to grow human blood vessels. Neat-o! Dork. What's the latest this week in the world of science? Check it out in this week's Science Weekend Warrior!

We've just got word via the main news stream that a massive earthquake has hit China, and it's epicenter was located in a county of a western Chinese province. Right now, the death toll as approximated from details streaming out of the crippled town is now over 12,000, but if a quake registering 7.9 in the Richter scale is anything to bear, then it's likely that more have fallen victim to its wrath. The full story unfolds at the extended version.

China is quite literally pulling out the heavy artillery to ensure that this year's Beijing Olympics go off without a hitch.

The event's official had unveiled their plans to seed any incoming clouds in the city with a combination of rockets, cannons, and even aircraft. More details on Beijing's war on clouds are available in the full article.

Let's get our daily dose of scientific news before the day ends, shall we? Yesterday, the US Navy fired a single missile against a failing spy satellite, and contrary to many naysayers' claims, the plan was claimed to be very effective. Officials made it clear that the satellite generously exploded into bits - football-sized bits, they say - over the Pacific Ocean. More at the full story.

Here's a logic statement to chew on: all birds are dinosaurs, all pterodactyls are dinosaurs, but birds aren't pterodactyls. The discovery of a fossil in China reveals a sparrow-sized pterodactyl - the smallest pterosaur ever discovered - could give scientists a clearer picture of how flying creatures evolved since the age of the dinosaurs. Details, and a picture of the tiny dino, lies in the full article.

It was recently revealed that an almost complete fossilized human skull estimated to be around 80,000 to 100,000 years old has been unearthed in Xuchang. The skull was dug up last month after over two years of excavation.

Interestingly enough, the significance of the find is still being debated on. For more information on this find and the issues surrounding it, head on over to the full article.

It may be a while before they breed real life Kung Fu Pandas, but this may be the next best thing: scientists in China may use dogs to train pandas how to fight in the wild. The program was brainstormed after the first artificially bred panda, Xiang Xiang, died earlier this year after less than a year of being released into the wild. More in the full article.