Many of us believe that cognitive decline is an inevitable part of ageing, but a new study looking at how our skills change with age challenges that idea. Ian Sample talks to Ludger Woessmann, a professor of economics at the university of Munich and one of the study’s authors, to find out how the team delved into the data to come to their conclusions, and what they discovered about how we can all maintain our faculties for as long as possible.

The Reform MP Rupert Lowe has been suspended from the party. What’s behind his feud with its leader? Eleni Courea reports