World Solve

Valuable datasets from completed research projects are sometimes lost entirely once funding and staff move on, wasting years of prior work. A shared system for preserving this data long-term remains underdeveloped.

Every major technology carries some risk of misuse or unintended harm, but there's no agreed standard for how much risk is acceptable before restricting or slowing development.

Some believe rewards should go strictly to those who work hardest or perform best, while others argue unequal starting points make pure merit-based systems inherently unfair. This tension remains philosophically unresolved.

Modern technology can track location, health, and behavior far more intimately than ever before, and there's no agreed line for when this crosses from useful into invasive.

Small businesses often struggle to access recovery funding quickly enough after disasters, leading to permanent closures that could have been prevented. Faster, more accessible recovery financing remains an unresolved gap.

Public transit systems that depend heavily on fares often struggle financially, leading to service cuts that push more people toward driving. A more sustainable funding model remains unresolved in many cities.

As climate disasters become more frequent, insurance premiums in high-risk areas are rising sharply or disappearing altogether, leaving residents financially exposed. A sustainable model for insuring these regions remains unresolved.

Online spaces can accelerate radicalization by connecting isolated individuals with extremist content and communities faster than in the past. Effective, rights-respecting ways to counter this remain unresolved.

Private contractors sometimes operate in conflict zones with less oversight than official military forces, raising accountability concerns when abuses occur. International legal frameworks addressing this remain inconsistent and weak.

People who expose wrongdoing inside powerful organizations often face serious professional or legal retaliation, discouraging future disclosures. Protection laws vary widely and are often weakly enforced even where they exist.

Tuberculosis remains a major killer in some regions, and drug-resistant strains are becoming harder and more expensive to treat. Slowing this resistance requires both better medicine access and improved treatment adherence support.

Countries with opt-out organ donation systems tend to have far higher donation rates, saving more lives, but implementing this fairly and ethically worldwide remains politically and culturally difficult.

Autoimmune arthritis causes the body's own immune system to damage joint tissue, leading to chronic pain and disability. Current treatments manage inflammation but don't address why the immune system attacks in the first place.

Older buildings often waste huge amounts of energy through poor insulation and outdated systems, but retrofitting them is usually expensive and disruptive. Cheaper retrofit solutions could unlock major emissions reductions from existing infrastructure.

Bees and other pollinators face combined pressure from pesticides, habitat loss, and disease, and addressing just one threat rarely solves the overall decline. A comprehensive solution addressing all major threats together remains unbuilt.

Manufacturing solar panels currently involves energy-intensive processes and some toxic materials, undercutting part of their environmental benefit. A cleaner production process would make solar energy's benefits more complete.

Some island nations face the real possibility of becoming uninhabitable within decades due to sea level rise. Cheap, effective coastal protection or relocation planning remains urgently unsolved for these communities.

Coding education often depends on expensive devices, reliable internet, and trained teachers, none of which are guaranteed in poorer school systems. Closing this gap could open technology careers to far more young people.

Data breaches exposing millions of passwords happen with striking regularity, despite widespread awareness of the problem. A more fundamentally secure approach to authentication is still needed.

Every kilogram of fuel launched from Earth adds enormous cost to a mission. Producing fuel on-site from ice or soil could make deep space missions dramatically more affordable.