The MSNBC article said she had 10 children (14, but four were adopted). I'm wondering what documentation they have for the children, and if that documentation will help put a lower bound on her age (i.e., assuming she had her first child at age 13, what's the youngest she could have been?) Also, how far apart were her children, and can we establish an upper bound based on a reasonable age for onset of menopause?

This might not help settle 125 versus 122 or 119, but it might settle an issue of 125 versus 114 or 109, right?

[Posted by: Jay Fox at March 7, 2005 11:36 AM]

Jay Fox has made an interesting suggestion. I read this article about the woman in Brazil and it said she was alert and "loved to talk".

Couldn't some varacity regarding such claims come from answers this woman would give to carefully crafted questions?

Questions about the surroundings during certain events in her life, etc. If she was born in 1880, and she said a certain person was Mayor when she got married or she took her first ride in a car with a certain child, etc.--and those facts didn't match, she would be shown to be a liar.

I wonder if they have any such techniques to use testing a person's age.

The trouble with lying is that it is difficult to be consistent. If you say you are 125 years old and then say you celebrated your 100th birthday at a restaurant that didn't exist 25 years ago, etc., you are caught in a lie.

Beyond just catching people in lies about their age, I wonder if there are standazrd procedures that can be used to trip up anyone lying about anything. Are there any good books on the subject?

[Posted by: Randolfe Wicker at March 7, 2005 5:29 PM]