The oldest person on the planet turned 117: biography and photos of Maria Morera

The oldest person in the world, Maria Branias Morera, who has recently been studied by scientists, celebrated her 117th birthday. SSPDaily tells about it.

This was reported by the Guinness Book of Records.

Maria was born on March 4, 1907, in San Francisco, USA, but returned to Spain with her family when she was eight years old and settled in Catalonia.

She has lived in the region ever since and has been living in a retirement home for the past 23 years.

She became the oldest person on Earth in January 2023, after the death of 118-year-old Lucille Rendon (France).

The nursing home told Maria that she was in good health. Apart from hearing loss and mobility issues, she has no physical or mental health problems. In fact, she is in such good condition that she has agreed to undergo scientific testing by researchers hoping to gain further insight into the secrets of long life.

Scientist Manel Esteller, who spoke with Maria at length, told the Spanish ABC: "She has a very clear head. She remembers with amazing clarity the events that happened to her when she was only four years old, and she has no cardiovascular diseases typical of the elderly. Obviously, there is a genetic component here, as there are several members of her family who are over 90 years old."

Saliva, blood, and urine samples were taken from Maria, which will be compared with those of her 80-year-old daughter. The researchers hope that the evaluation of Maria's genes will help in the development of drugs that can fight diseases associated with aging.

In keeping with her status as the world's oldest person in the digital age, Maria is active on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the help of her daughter. Her page description reads: "I am old, very old, but not an idiot."

In addition to "luck and good genetics," Maria attributes her longevity to order, peace, good relationships with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries or regrets, lots of positivity, and staying away from toxic people.

Due to her poor hearing, Maria's family uses a voice communication device to communicate with her.

As a child, she lost hearing in one ear permanently after falling while playing with her brothers on a trip from America to Spain in 1915. This was not the only misfortune that befell the family on board the ship: Maria's father unfortunately died of pulmonary tuberculosis towards the end of the journey.

Maria survived the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, as well as the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), which she says she has "very bad memories of."

In 1931, she married a Catalan doctor named Joan More, with whom she had three children. Her husband died in 1976. Maria also survived her only son, August, who died in a car accident at the age of 86.

Maria is also a Covid-19 survivor: she contracted the virus a few weeks after turning 113 in 2020, but made a full recovery within days, becoming the world's oldest Covid-19 survivor. Later that year, the title was won by Lucille Rendon, who was three years older than Maria.

Despite admitting that she is "getting closer and closer to death," Maria maintains a positive outlook on life and believes that there is always something new to learn every day, even in her advanced age.

She is currently the 12th oldest verified person in history, and if she turns 118, she will move up to 5th place. Officially, the oldest person in history was Frenchwoman Jeanne Calman, who lived to the age of 122 years and 164 days.