Have humans passed peak brain power?

Five charts to start your day

It seems we might be stumbling at the height of our own mental abilities and research suggests this turning point happened around the early 2010s. Tests for teenagers and adults alike hint at a decline in reading comprehension, maths skills and problem-solving.

Some point to the disruption of Covid, but these worrying trends began years before lockdowns. Fifteen-year-olds and working adults in many countries show lower scores in verbal reasoning and numeracy now than a decade ago. One survey of American teenagers reveals a major upswing in difficulties with concentration since the mid-2010s.