Its "indoor" balconies bring sea views to your couch. A "magic carpet" hovers off the edge of the ship.Richard Fain, the chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., is willing to bet $5 billion that he can take everything you know about cruising and flip it upside down. Or at least outside in.On Monday, he and Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, CEO of Celebrity Cruises—one of three brands in the...

Analysis of high-stakes transformations reveals a few pragmatic lessons that increase the odds of meeting the organization’s objectives.Any transformation worth the name starts with ambitious goals. Setting them is hard enough, especially for organizations long used to the risk-averse pattern of underpromising and overdelivering. But the real work starts once the organization sets out to turn...

Biotech company Bolt Threads debuts $314 necktie made entirely from ‘spider silk’. Can the biological super material live up to its hype?We were promised carbon-nanotube space elevators, nanorobots that would mend us from the inside out, bulletproof vests made from spider silk, and so much more. What we will get, at least when it comes to arachnid materials, is a $314.15, limited edition spid...

The MucoJet is a pill-like device that could painlessly deliver vaccines and drugs through the inside of a patient's cheek.You'd be hard pressed to find anybody who would complain if scientists developed an alternative to the necessary evil of getting a jab at the doctor's. Microneedle patches or jet-injectors could be good ways to painlessly deliver drugs through the skin, and now researchers...

Upscale beauty brands are likewise feeling the call of cannabis, launching products that skew luxury rather than hippie.From marijuana delivery services to creative cannabis beverages, young entrepreneurs are helping pot transition away from its patchouli-and-bongwater-soaked reputation and rebranding it as a modern lifestyle product that offers benefits complementary to their generational view...

It’s been a long time since the general store was the go-to place for consumers to pick up everything they needed from week to week. But variety hasn’t just increased over the years, it’s diversified. And as a result, today’s consumers aren’t just shopping a single channel—they blend channels and shop fluidly according to their unique needs.While this omnichannel approach presents myriad...

NIO, the Chinese-backed startup formerly known as NextEV, is bringing an autonomous electric car to the U.S. by 2020, the company's U.S CEO Padmasree Warrior announced Friday at an event during SXSW in Austin, Texas.The startup will partner with Israeli-based Mobileye, which develops camera-based systems to help drivers avoid collisions, Nvidia, and NXP Semiconductors, the world's largest chip...

American mothers now have access to a tool kit that has helped give Finland one of the lowest baby mortality rates in the world.In the 1930s, Finland was a poor country fighting an economic depression; 65 out of every 1,000 infants died. In response, the government came up with an idea for at-risk expectant mothers: a free box full of baby gear that doubles as a bassinet where babies can sleep...

A majority of people would rather see brands donate money directly when it comes to supporting causes.With social activism on the rise, more brands are aligning themselves with philanthropic causes in hopes of burnishing their reputations—and their bottom lines. But while a simple donation to charity might have sufficed in decades past, today’s younger consumers expect brands to go above and...