Science, especially geriatric medicine, wealth, security, and public heath systems have made the description of a reasonable life offered by the Psalms — The days of our years are threescore years and ten — seem little more than a prelude.

Emma Morano, at 117 the world's oldest person, has died at her home in northern Italy, her doctor says.

When Susannah Mushatt Jones and Emma Morano were born in 1899, there was not yet a world war or penicillin, and electricity was still a marvel.