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February 13th 2026

The Economist Today The best of our journalism, handpicked each day

Annie Crabill Senior digital editor

Erewhon’s “Activated Smoothie” contains alt-milks and maca powder, a superfood that promises to do a lot of vague-sounding things. At $20, it is not the priciest drink you can buy at the rarefied Los Angeles mini-chain, a favourite of celebrities and beautiful young people interested in spending an exorbitant amount of money on groceries. What’s Erewhon’s secret ingredient? And this Valentine’s Day, one evolutionary biologist is sounding the alarm: humankind is facing an “intimacy crisis”. There is a mismatch between the online world in which many people seek love today and the physical one our brains have evolved for. Two recent books offer insights into modern intimacy.

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Editor’s picks A selection of must-read articles

Posh nosh America’s hottest grocery store is also its priciest Erewhon is testing just how much wealthy shoppers will pay for chicken soup

→ Would you pay $19 for a strawberry?

Let them scroll Don’t ban teenagers from social media Restrictions would do more harm than good

→ More and more countries are banning kids from social media

Lexington RFK’s idea of making America healthy starts with making it politically sicker And it will probably end with making it actually sicker

A revolution, but can they keep it? Can Bangladesh’s old guard build a new democracy? The country’s first real election in 18 years is won by a familiar face