Repository of problems worth solving
World Solve is a public institutional repository for identifying real unresolved problems across science, society, health, governance, economics, and local systems. Each entry is intended to be citable, inspectable, and actionable.
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4194Total
4194Open
0Solved
9Humans
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Direct air capture exists, but it's still far too expensive and energy-intensive to make a dent in global emissions. Making it cheap enough to scale is one of the biggest levers left for slowing climate change.
climate-environment
global-unspecified
climate-change
scale
don
have
affordable
technology
remove
carbon
dioxide
atmosphere
meaningful
philosophy-ethics
whether
determine
resolved
way
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
As AI-generated accounts and bots flood social platforms, telling a real person from an automated one is getting harder. Without a trusted verification method, online trust and public discourse both suffer.
climate-environment
global-unspecified
trusted
person
online
real
don
have
widely
way
prove
actually
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
agreed
prevent
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Machine translation is fast and often accurate, but it still misses jokes, idioms, and cultural context that change meaning entirely. Real cross-cultural communication needs more than word-for-word accuracy.
philosophy-ethics
global-unspecified
translation
haven
built
technology
fully
preserves
tone
culture
nuance
languages
whether
mathematics-logic
resolved
technology-computing
possible
build
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
For decades, computer chips got faster mainly by shrinking transistors, but they're now near the smallest physically possible size. Finding a new way to keep computing power growing is an open engineering problem.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
chips
keep
faster
now
transistors
near
don
have
getting
physical
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
way
agreed
open
United States, North America
Modern software is built from thousands of smaller components, any of which could be secretly tampered with. Without full traceability, a single compromised piece can quietly infect software used by millions.
technology-computing
north-america
united-states
supply-chain
software
haven
solved
make
supply
chains
fully
verifiable
source
user
global-unspecified
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
When an AI makes a harmful decision, it's often unclear whether the blame falls on the developer, the user, or the company deploying it. Without clear rules, victims of AI mistakes often have no clear path to accountability.
philosophy-ethics
global-unspecified
have
don
legal
framework
assigns
responsibility
systems
cause
harm
often
whether
resolved
determine
agreed
way
know
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Hard drives fail, file formats become unreadable, and even cloud storage depends on companies staying in business. Without a truly long-lasting storage method, much of today's digital history may simply vanish.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
storage
haven
created
data
lasts
centuries
decay
format
obsolescence
hard
climate-environment
whether
smallholder
farmers
energy
mathematics-logic
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Fake videos and voice clones are now realistic enough to fool most people, and detection tools often lag behind the technology creating them. Left unresolved, this threatens trust in video and audio evidence itself.
health-biology
global-unspecified
videos
audio
don
have
reliable
way
detect
deepfake
moment
created
philosophy-ethics
whether
determine
resolved
agreed
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
As AI moves from answering questions to taking real actions, like managing money or controlling machinery, mistakes carry real consequences. We still lack agreed safety standards for how much autonomy is safe to hand over.
society-governance
global-unspecified
real
safe
haven
built
universal
way
let
systems
act
autonomously
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
mathematics-logic
determine
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Billions of people still lack reliable, affordable internet, cutting them off from education, healthcare information, and economic opportunity. Closing this gap remains a matter of infrastructure cost, not lack of demand.
social-civic-problems
global-unspecified
internet
don
have
access
reaches
every
remote
community
earth
affordably
whether
philosophy-ethics
determine
resolved
way
agreed
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Old phones, laptops, and batteries pile up in landfills, leaking toxic materials while valuable metals inside go to waste. A cheap, safe recycling process could turn a growing pollution problem into a resource stream.
climate-environment
global-unspecified
waste
haven
figured
out
recycle
electronic
cheaply
safely
scale
old
recycling
systems
management
plastic
growing
whether
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Despite decades of research, battery capacity has improved far more slowly than the power demands of our devices. A real breakthrough here would change how we use and design nearly all portable technology.
local-regional
global-unspecified
build
batteries
phones
laptops
last
multiple
days
single
charge
despite
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
technology-computing
haven
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Nearly every major hack traces back to a bug that existed long before anyone found it. Catching these flaws before release, rather than after damage is done, remains an unsolved challenge.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
flaws
release
don
have
way
guarantee
software
has
exploitable
security
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
agreed
mathematics-logic
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
AI can now produce convincing text, images, and video in seconds, and detection tools are struggling to keep up. Without a reliable way to tell real from fake, public trust in what we see online keeps eroding.
society-governance
global-unspecified
online
real
haven
solved
verify
content
not
ai-generated
scale
now
whether
philosophy-ethics
way
resolved
prevent
technology-computing
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Once powerful enough quantum computers exist, they may crack the encryption that currently protects banking, health records, and private communication. Most of the internet still isn't ready for that shift.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
computers
yet
build
fully
immune
quantum-era
code
breaking
once
powerful
whether
mathematics-logic
haven
quantum
philosophy-ethics
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Modern AI models are often accurate but operate like black boxes, even to the people who built them. Without a way to explain their reasoning, it's hard to trust them in medicine, law, or other high-stakes decisions.
health-biology
global-unspecified
explain
don
have
systems
reliably
made
specific
decision
modern
models
philosophy-ethics
whether
resolved
determine
way
agreed
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Current searches scan a tiny fraction of the sky and only for a narrow range of signals. Without better tools, we may be missing evidence of other intelligent life simply because we aren't looking in the right way.
philosophy-ethics
global-unspecified
way
don
have
reliable
search
signs
civilizations
meaningful
scale
whether
determine
resolved
agreed
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Current detectors cost billions of dollars and can only catch the largest cosmic collisions. A cheaper detection method would let us study the universe's most violent events far more often.
health-biology
global-unspecified
study
yet
detect
gravitational
waves
cheaply
enough
routinely
current
detectors
whether
philosophy-ethics
haven
way
technology-computing
reliable
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Hurricanes and tornadoes can still shift path or intensity with little warning, leaving communities scrambling to evacuate. More precise, longer-range forecasting could save lives and billions in property damage every year.
climate-environment
global-unspecified
precise
haven
developed
weather
models
enough
predict
extreme
storms
far
whether
systems
climate
philosophy-ethics
african
mathematics-logic
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Neuroscience can map which brain regions activate during thought, but nobody can explain why that activity produces subjective experience at all. This gap separates our understanding of the brain from any real understanding of the mind.
philosophy-ethics
global-unspecified
brain
don
know
consciousness
arises
physical
matter
understanding
neuroscience
map
whether
resolved
determine
mathematics-logic
haven
have
