Scientists from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), Northwestern University, and University of Washington (UW) have discovered that a group of older adults known as “superagers” display surprisingly youthful cognitive function. The scientists from these universities studied postmortem brain samples across five broad human groups, including healthy young adults, healthy older adults, superagers, people with mild dementia, and people with Alzheimer’s. They found that superagers displayed robust neurogenesis (the generation of healthy neurons) in the hippocampus, even in comparison to healthy adults. The researchers identified two specific brain cells: astrocytes (rosthetic glial cells) and CA1 neurons (the memory neurons of the hippocampus). They believe this could help researchers develop strategies to preserve memory and cognitive health as they age.