Abbey Carper

Japan, With The World’s Longest Life Expectancy, Has Set A World Record For The 55th Year, As Nearly 100K Citizens Are Now Aged 100+. As Of 9/2025, The Count Was 99,763 With 88% Women. Shigeko Kagawa (F, 114) & Kiyotaka Mizuno (M, 111) Are The Oldest. Diet, Low Obesity, & Active Living Help, Though Critics Say Data Errors May Inflate Stats.

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Hunter-Gatherers In Asia Smoke-Dried Their Dead 12–14Kyrs Ago, Marking The Oldest Known Evidence Of Intentional Mummification, Predating Chile (~5050 BC) & Egypt (~3000 BC). 2017–2025 Study Of 54 Crouched Burials From 11 Sites Showed, Via Spectroscopy, Heat/Smoke Preservation, Suggesting Ritual Care Like Modern Papua New Guinea Practices.

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Ethiopia Inaugurated The $5B Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) On 9/9/25 In Guba (Blue Nile). Funded 91% By The Central Bank & 9% By Citizens, GERD Generates 5,150 MW, Making It Africa’s Largest Dam. Egypt Fears GERD Could Reduce Nile Flow During Droughts, Threatening Its Water Supply & Dam. In 2022, ~55% Of Ethiopians Had Electricity.

Starting Fall 2026, Tufts’ Tuition Pact Offers Free Tuition To U.S. Undergrads From Families Earning Under $150K, With Full Aid/No Loans For Those Under $60K. Backed By $143M In Donor-Funded Aid To Expand Access, Cut Debt & Boost Diversity, Tufts Joins MIT, Brandeis & Holy Cross In Offering Tuition-Free Education To Qualifying Families.

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Pope Leo XIV Canonized Carlo Acutis, A London-Born Teen Raised In Milan, As The First Millennial Saint. Known As “God’s Influencer,” He Used Tech Skills To Document Eucharistic Miracles. He Died Of Leukemia At 15 In 2006 & Is Buried In Assisi, Italy. He Joins Youthful Saints Like Maria Goretti (11) & Dominic Savio (14) In Inspiring Modern Faith.

Microbial DNA From 483 Mammoth Remains Revealed 6 Of The Oldest Host-Associated Microbes, Including Relatives Of Actinobacillus, Pasteurella, Streptococcus, & Erysipelothrix. An Erysipelothrix Genome From A 1.1M-Yr-Old Mammoth Represents The Oldest Host-Associated Microbial DNA Ever Sequenced, Providing Ice Age Diseases & Adaptations Clues.

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In A First, Researchers Found A Denisovan (DN) Gene, MUC19, In Humans Passed On Via Neanderthal (ND) DNA. DNs Interbred With NDs; Then NDs Later Interbred With Early Modern Humans, Passing The Gene To Early Americans. This Gene Transfer, Found In 1 In 3 Mexicans Today, May Have Helped Against Diseases As Humans Migrated Across The Americas.

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New Research Shows Neurogenesis, Birth Of New Brain Cells, Continues In The Hippocampus Into Old Age, Though Formation Rates Decline With Age And Vary Individually. Using RNA Sequencing & Machine Learning On Postmortem Brains Aged 0–78, Scientists Found Immature Neurons. These Findings Could Aid Neurodegenerative & Psychiatric Treatments.

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Kokichi Akuzawa, 102, Became The Oldest To Summit Mt. Fuji, Japan, On 8/5/25, Earning A Guinness World Record. Over 3 Days He Climbed With His Daughter Despite Health Setbacks, Surpassing Teiichi Igarashi (99, 1986) & Ichijiro Araya (~100, 1994). Having Climbed At 96 & Seen It Many Times, He Joked The View “Wasn’t Special” But Felt Proud.

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US Scientists Found That The Protein Ferritin Light Chain 1 (FTL1) May Drive Brain Aging By Reducing Cognition & Hippocampus Brain Cell (HBC) Connections. Increasing FTL1 In Young Mice Prematurely Aged Their Brains, While Lowering It In Old Mice Reversed Decline. Boosting HBC Metabolism Also Helped. Study Offers Hope To Reverse Brain Aging.

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