The secret to oldest-lived areas is fraud

[Maphistos_Sidekick]

@meep : Wtf/wtg science - #298 by Maphistos_Sidekick

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The 2024 Ig Nobel prizes have been awarded:

Quoting now from the Ig Nobel summary:

DEMOGRAPHY PRIZE [AUSTRALIA, UK]
Saul Justin Newman, for detective work to discover that many of the people famous for having the longest lives lived in places that had lousy birth-and-death recordkeeping.
REFERENCE: “Supercentenarians and the Oldest-Old Are Concentrated into Regions with No Birth Certificates and Short Lifespans,” Saul Justin Newman, BioRxiv, 704080, 2019. <doi.org/10.1101/704080>
REFERENCE: “Supercentenarian and Remarkable Age Records Exhibit Patterns Indicative of Clerical Errors and Pension Fraud,” Saul Justin Newman, BioRxiv, 2024. <doi.org/10.1101/704080>
WHO CAME TO THE CEREMONY: Saul Justin Newman

To see the award presentation, go to 1:38:30 in this video. A very nice poem is involved.

The 34th First Annual Ig Nobel Ceremony (2024) FULL SHOW