Introduction Graziella Caselli and Marc Luy: Determinants of unusual and differential longevity Refereed Articles Elizabeth Wrigley-Field: Mortality deceleration is not informative of unobserved heterogeneity in open groups Shiro Horiuchi, Nadine Ouellette, Siu Lan Karen Cheung and Jean-Marie Robine: Modal age at death: lifespan indicator in the era of longevity extension Jon Anson: Surviving to be the oldest old-destiny or chance? Michel Poulain, Anne Herm and Gianni Pes: The Blue Zones: areas of exceptional longevity around the world Luis Rosero-Bixby, William H. Dow and David H. Rehkopf: The Nicoya region of Costa Rica: a high longevity island for elderly males Sebastian Klusener and Rembrandt D. Scholz: Regional hot spots of exceptional longevity in Germany Richard G. Rogers, Patrick M. Krueger, Richard Miech and Elizabeth M. Lawrence: Lifetime abstainers and mortality risk in the United States Maria Winkler-Dworak and Heiner Kaden: The longevity of academicians: evidence from the Saxonian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig Morgan E. Levine and Eileen M. Crimmins: Evidence of resiliency among long-lived smokers Ethan J. Sharygin and Michel Guillot: Ethnicity, russification and excess mortality in Kazakhstan Graziella Caselli, Rosa Maria Lipsi, Enrica Lapucci and James W. Vaupel: Exploring Sardinian longevity: women fertility and parental transmission of longevity Valerie Jarry, Alain Gagnon and Robert Bourbeau: Maternal age, birth order and other early-life factors: a family-level approach to exploring exceptional survival Leonid A. Gavrilov and Natalia S. Gavrilova: Determinants of exceptional human longevity: new ideas and findings Luisa Salaris, Nicola Tedesco and Michel Poulain: Familial transmission of human longevity: a population-based study in an inland village of Sardinia (Italy), 1850-2010