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• In Japan, the number of people aged 100 or older has hit a new record -- 95,119, AFP reports.
Most of the centenarians are women, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications noted. The world's oldest person, Tomiko Itooka of western Japan, is 116.
Japan's oldest man, Kiyotaka Mizuno, 110, told local media that he has "no idea at all about what's the secret to my long life." [AFP, 9/17/2024]
• About 40 feet off the coast of Miami Beach, the world's first underwater cemetery is already home to about 1,500 "placements," ClickOrlando reports.
The Neptune Memorial Reef's community resource director, Michael Tabers, said the area had already been designated for an artificial reef when "a group of businessmen in the area ... had the idea."
The reef was built "from an artist conception of the Lost City of Atlantis"; customers' cremains are mixed with water and then formed into road columns, archways or depictions of local sea life, such as starfish or seashells.
Then the coral grows around them.
"We have sea turtle placements; those are some of our more popular ones," Taber said.
The reef has already been extended once, but when it fills up, "we will launch the next phase," he said.
Coral reef conservation activists are thrilled; the reef provides hard surfaces that help coral to thrive. And loved ones can also dive to visit their family members' resting places. [ClickOrlando, 9/17/2024]