Official "Science News" Thread

[cheesehead]

Originally Posted by rogue

A Password So Secret, You Don’t Consciously Know It

"Subconscious" and "unconscious" are sometimes used interchangeably, but (* ahem *) conscientious writers distinguish between them.

If, after looking it up, I do understand the difference, this article's consistent use of "unconscious" seems to be correct. Passwords stored in ones subconscious would be vulnerable to "rubber-hose" persuasion to disclose because they could be recalled to consciousness. Those in the unconscious would not.

[ewmayer]

Oldest man in history dies in Japan: A Japanese man recognised as the world's oldest living person, and the oldest man recorded in history, has died aged 116, local officials say.

Mr Kimura was born on 19 April 1897, the same year as aviator Amelia Earhart.
...
Journalist Kanoko Matsuyama of Bloomberg News met Mr Kimura at his home last year.

"He said his secret to his longevity was eating light to live long," Ms Matsuyama told the BBC.

"At the same time, his main carer and grand-daughter-in-law, Aiko, said his positivity helped him to live so long."
...
Japanese woman Misao Okawa from Osaka, who is 115 years old, will most probably inherit the title of world's oldest living person, reports say.

I wonder how many people born in the 19th century are still living. Too lazy to try to ferret out an estimate, but seat-of-pants guess is "more than 10, but fewer than 100".

Shockingly, neither of the two centenarians mentioned is from the island of Okinawa ... is it possible that folks who bring us the late-night infomercials for this magic elixir might be playing a little loose with the truth? Nah, can't be - must just be a statistical fluke ... or I'll bet both oldsters grew up in Okinawa and developed their healthful dietary habits (captured in pill form in the aforementioned elixir - order now!) there, before moving to the mainland. Yeah, that's the ticket...

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

I wonder how many people born in the 19th century are still living. Too lazy to try to ferret out an estimate, but seat-of-pants guess is "more than 10, but fewer than 100".

Recently (in the last month) I had heard that there was just one person. I guess that it was the gentleman that just went wheels up (in the race car sense).

[Batalov]

...there was just one person

One man, many women.
http://www.grg.org/Adams/E.HTM

[only_human]

He was the one man in this list but there are still a lot of women:
How many people that were born in the 19th century are still alive?

As of May 28, 2013, there are 21 people who were born in the 19th century, whose birth records have been confirmed, and who are still alive.

The oldest person alive today is Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, whose 116th birthday was April 19, 2013. He has been the oldest person in the world since December 17, 2012, the "oldest man ever" since December 28, 2012, the only living person in the world born before 1898 since January 12, 2013, and the only man born in the 19th century who is still alive since May 23, 2013.

Here is the breakdown by gender:
20 women
1 man


Here is the breakdown by country:
10 in the United States
6 in Japan (1 man & 5 women)
2 in Italy
2 in England
1 in Canada


Here is the breakdown by race:
9 Whites
6 Asians (1 man & 5 women)
4 Blacks
2 Hispanics

also
List of oldest living people by nation

[science_man_88]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

I wonder how many people born in the 19th century are still living. Too lazy to try to ferret out an estimate, but seat-of-pants guess is "more than 10, but fewer than 100".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ercentenarians suggest 9 before 1900, and 19 before 1901

[only_human]

Originally Posted by science_man_88

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ercentenarians suggest 9 before 1900, and 19 before 1901

That looks right. Since the term supercentenarian is for a person who has lived 110 years, what about people who have lived 120 years, superdupercentenarians? Well, glad you asked; there is just this one: French woman Jeanne Calment, who died at the verified age of 122 years, 164 days, is the oldest person whose age has been verified (1875-1997).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._oldest_people

[kladner]

Another interesting category, for me, is those people who lived in three centuries. I knew one such. Though she "only" lived to 105 years, her life extended from the 19th to the 21st century.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by kladner

Another interesting category, for me, is those people who lived in three centuries. I knew one such. Though she "only" lived to 105 years, her life extended from the 19th to the 21st century.

I believe one of my maternal ancestors lived in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries but I'd have to check it out to be sure.

At least one member of the British royal family lived in three centuries --- 19th , 20th and 21st.

[kladner]

Ah, yes. The beloved Queen Mum.

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by Batalov

One man, many women.
http://www.grg.org/Adams/E.HTM

Thanks! I see the geometric means of the extremes of my guessed range is pretty close to the actual number.

With the death of Mr Kimura, next-closest man is at #32 (James McCoubrey). Jimmy, me lad, ye lucky dog, you! All those eligible supercentennary bachelorettes...

The numbering also depends on whether one uses 0 or 1-offset for one's century convention, but it seems the biblical "year 1" convention is the norm here. Damn Fortran programmers...