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
United States, North America
The absence of robust, context-adapted solutions for institutional arrangements that accelerate the adoption of proven public health interventions creates cascading risks across interconnected human and natural systems. Key missing elements include durable performance, low lifetime cost, and governance arrangements capable of sustaining impact beyond pilot stages.
society-governance
north-america
united-states
public-health
arrangements
institutional
accelerate
adoption
proven
public
health
interventions
practical
realization
solutions
systems
climate-environment
methods
open
Costa Rica, North America
Achieving community-scale renewable microgrids resilient to extreme weather isolation at meaningful scale demands simultaneous progress in fundamental research, engineering integration and socio-technical systems that work for low- and middle-income settings. Existing efforts remain fragmented relative to the magnitude of the challenge.
climate-environment
north-america
costa-rica
community-scale
renewable
microgrids
resilient
extreme
weather
isolation
integrated
pathways
achieving
economics-resources
systems
society-governance
designs
methods
Germany has expanding agricultural frontiers bordering wildlife habitat where novel pathogens can jump species, but there is no routine, affordable genomic surveillance at these interfaces to catch spillover before human transmission begins.
health-biology
europe
germany
spillover
interfaces
detecting
zoonotic
risk
wildlife-livestock
has
expanding
agricultural
wildlife
philosophy-ethics
surveillance
The absence of robust, context-adapted solutions for governance frameworks ensuring that advances in longevity science benefit all socioeconomic groups creates cascading risks across interconnected human and natural systems. Key missing elements include durable performance, low lifetime cost, and governance arrangements capable of sustaining impact beyond pilot stages.
society-governance
oceania
australia
governance
frameworks
ensuring
advances
longevity
science
benefit
all
socioeconomic
groups
systems
solutions
climate-environment
enabling
methods
The absence of robust, context-adapted solutions for technologies enabling precise and low-impact application of agricultural inputs creates cascading risks across interconnected human and natural systems. Key missing elements include durable performance, low lifetime cost, and governance arrangements capable of sustaining impact beyond pilot stages.
society-governance
asia
china
technologies
enabling
precise
low-impact
application
agricultural
inputs
breakthrough
approaches
absence
systems
solutions
climate-environment
methods
robust
Current approaches to technologies enabling the continuous monitoring of air quality and its health impacts at high resolution either underperform under variable field conditions or generate externalities that undermine long-term sustainability and equity. Closing the gap requires coordinated advances in science, systems design and enabling institutions.
climate-environment
asia
nepal
enabling
technologies
continuous
monitoring
air
quality
its
health
impacts
high
society-governance
systems
methods
health-biology
solutions
open
Colombia, South America
A persistent gap exists in realizing practical, scalable solutions for methods for restoring the carbon and biodiversity values of degraded peatlands and wetlands. Scientific understanding, engineering readiness and institutional capacity remain insufficient to translate promising concepts into durable impact under real-world constraints of cost, skills and governance.
society-governance
south-america
colombia
biodiversity
methods
restoring
carbon
values
degraded
peatlands
wetlands
overcoming
barriers
solutions
systems
climate-environment
scalable
practical
Women in formal-sector jobs in Peru continue to earn less than men in comparable roles, and current pay-transparency requirements are too weak to be enforced effectively.
economics-resources
south-america
peru
formal-sector
closing
gender
pay
gap
employment
women
jobs
continue
sector
formal
colombia
mexico
haiti
society-governance
Current approaches to cognitive and social interventions that improve collective problem-solving under uncertainty either underperform under variable field conditions or generate externalities that undermine long-term sustainability and equity. Closing the gap requires coordinated advances in science, systems design and enabling institutions.
society-governance
africa
nigeria
under
cognitive
social
interventions
improve
collective
problem-solving
uncertainty
overcoming
barriers
systems
climate-environment
enabling
solutions
approaches
A persistent gap exists in realizing practical, scalable solutions for technologies for detecting and neutralizing chemical and biological threats at public venues. Scientific understanding, engineering readiness and institutional capacity remain insufficient to translate promising concepts into durable impact under real-world constraints of cost, skills and governance.
society-governance
asia
malaysia
scalable
solutions
technologies
detecting
neutralizing
chemical
biological
threats
public
venues
systems
methods
enabling
governance
practical
open
Solomon Islands, Oceania
The absence of robust, context-adapted solutions for cryptographically private national-scale health data analytics creates cascading risks across interconnected human and natural systems. Key missing elements include durable performance, low lifetime cost, and governance arrangements capable of sustaining impact beyond pilot stages.
society-governance
oceania
solomon-islands
cryptographically
private
national-scale
health
data
analytics
development
absence
robust
context-adapted
solutions
systems
climate-environment
methods
governance
Achieving carbon-negative cementitious binders setting in saline conditions at meaningful scale demands simultaneous progress in fundamental research, engineering integration and socio-technical systems that work for low- and middle-income settings. Existing efforts remain fragmented relative to the magnitude of the challenge.
climate-environment
europe
greece
carbon-negative
cementitious
binders
setting
saline
conditions
breakthrough
approaches
achieving
meaningful
economics-resources
systems
society-governance
methods
solutions
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Some counterfeit or unsafe products carry fabricated safety certification marks that can be difficult for both consumers and regulators to quickly verify as fraudulent. Strengthening certification verification systems remains an unresolved consumer protection issue.
society-governance
global-unspecified
systems
safety
consumer
build
fully
reliable
detect
ai-generated
fake
product
philosophy-ethics
whether
mathematics-logic
technology-computing
resolved
haven
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Attackers can automatically test massive numbers of previously leaked username and password combinations across many websites to find accounts where the same credentials still work. Reducing the effectiveness of this widespread technique remains an unresolved security challenge.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
leaked
password
haven
found
way
prevent
large-scale
automated
account
takeover
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Some financial institutions still use voice recognition as an authentication method, but increasingly realistic AI voice cloning threatens to undermine this security layer. Strengthening these systems against synthetic voice attacks remains an active, unresolved challenge.
society-governance
global-unspecified
voice
cloning
authentication
yet
build
technology
reliably
prevents
being
bypass
philosophy-ethics
whether
mathematics-logic
technology-computing
haven
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
AI chat systems can sometimes misread customer frustration or urgency, responding in ways that unintentionally worsen a situation rather than resolve it. Better emotional context understanding in these systems remains an unresolved design challenge.
society-governance
global-unspecified
systems
customer
emotional
understanding
haven
solved
prevent
service
escalating
conflicts
whether
technology-computing
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
resolved
way
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Bad actors can spread coordinated campaigns across several platforms at once, and current detection systems often work in isolation per platform rather than recognizing the broader cross-platform pattern. Building this kind of coordinated detection remains an unresolved industry challenge.
society-governance
global-unspecified
coordinated
systems
platforms
build
fully
reliable
detect
inauthentic
behavior
multiple
technology-computing
philosophy-ethics
whether
mathematics-logic
haven
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Some advertisements use AI-generated voices without always clearly disclosing this to listeners, and consistent labeling standards for synthetic voice content remain unevenly enforced. Closing this transparency gap remains an unresolved regulatory and design issue.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
ai-generated
synthetic
yet
build
technology
fully
verifies
whether
voiceover
advertising
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
haven
resolved
possible
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Aggressive scraping bots, including those collecting data to train AI models, can overload smaller websites not built to handle that volume of automated traffic. Balancing open web access with protection against this kind of strain remains unresolved.
local-regional
global-unspecified
automated
web
scraping
smaller
websites
don
have
reliable
way
prevent
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
determine
agreed
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
A fabricated but realistic-seeming weather alert or disaster warning could spread panic or cause people to take unnecessary risky action before it's identified as false. Faster detection and correction systems for this kind of misinformation remain underdeveloped.
society-governance
global-unspecified
systems
weather
disaster
haven
found
way
prevent
generating
convincing
fake
whether
philosophy-ethics
resolved
mathematics-logic
technology-computing
