News You Can Use

From this week's Economist (sorry, no link):

According to most studies, people's numerical and reasoning abilities are at their best in their 20s and early 30s. Other abilities - those that depend on knowledge, such as verbal abilities - may improve with age. One study, carried out in Seattle, suggests that verbal fluency peaks at 53, on average.

As you age... you become dumber and more eloquent.

That might explain a number of things about our world, mightn't it?