Extreme longevity: The secret to living longer may be hiding with nuns... and jellyfish
On March 4, María Branyas Morera turned 116. In January, the great-grandmother, who was born in San Francisco in 1907 and now lives in a nursing home in Catalonia, Spain, became the world's oldest person following the death of Sister André (née Lucile Randon), a French nun who lived to be 118. Branyas Morera, who goes by the nickname "super grandmother," has lived through the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, both World Wars and the Spanish Civil War. She also survived a bout of COVID-19 just weeks after turning 113, according to Guinness World Records . Branyas Morera attributes her long life to a number of things, from enjoying nature and good company to "staying away from toxic people," but she ultimately credits her extreme longevity to "luck and good genetics," she told Guinness World Records. Branyas Morera is part of a super-exclusive club: She is a supercentenarian, meaning a person who is 110 years or older. For instance, in Japan only about 3...