World Solve

Larger plastic debris eventually breaks down into microplastics that are ingested by marine life and can work their way up the food chain to humans. Preventing this breakdown process or removing microplastics at scale remains technically unresolved.

Fish introduced into new waterways for recreational or food purposes can sometimes outcompete or prey on native species, causing lasting ecological disruption. Preventing or reversing this kind of introduction remains an unresolved conservation challenge.

Battery life claims often assume light use, and demanding tasks like video editing or gaming can drain a laptop's battery in just a few hours. Meaningfully extending battery life under heavy real-world use remains an unresolved hardware challenge.

Smartwatches with more advanced features tend to have shorter battery life, forcing users to choose between functionality and convenience. Solving this tradeoff remains an unresolved hardware challenge.

Colonization, slavery, and resource extraction left lasting harm in many parts of the world, and debates over reparations or restitution remain unresolved almost everywhere they're raised. There's no broadly accepted framework for addressing this.

Diet and exercise advice hasn't solved the obesity epidemic, and the biological reasons weight loss is so hard to sustain remain only partly understood. A deeper understanding could lead to treatments that actually last.

Millions of tons of plastic enter the ocean every year, and cleanup efforts remove only a small fraction of it. Without cutting the source and scaling removal, marine ecosystems will keep absorbing the damage.

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.

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.

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.

Despite recognition of its importance, reliable methods for circular economy systems that eliminate leakage of plastics into the environment are still lacking. Progress is hindered by incomplete mechanistic knowledge, high capital and operational barriers, and the absence of deployment models suited to the contexts of greatest need.

Current approaches to circular economy systems that eliminate leakage of plastics into the environment 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.

The absence of robust, context-adapted solutions for low-cost sensors and models for tracking plastic pollution from source to ocean 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.

A persistent gap exists in realizing practical, scalable solutions for multiplex field sensors for waterborne pathogens and microplastics. 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.

Organic waste makes up a large share of landfilled municipal waste in Papua New Guinea, generating methane emissions that could be avoided with accessible composting infrastructure.

Remote communities in Nigeria are often the last to receive formal disaster response, making locally trained first-responder networks essential but currently under-resourced.

Develop offline-capable, multilingual, trusted systems for issuing alerts, gathering local conditions, and coordinating response when normal communications fail. The challenge is especially acute in informal settlements, where existing solutions often assume stable institutions, high incomes, continuous connectivity, or centralized service delivery.

Establish reliable exposure measurement, causal evidence, biological mechanisms, and practical interventions for microplastics in food, water, and air.

Create traceability and enforcement systems that stop unusable textile waste from being labeled as reusable goods and exported to vulnerable communities.

Develop practical alternatives to diesel for small trucks, boats, and last-mile vehicles serving dispersed rural communities.