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
The problem of reporting harassment remaining dangerous continues to affect hundreds of millions of people and undermines progress on multiple Sustainable Development Goals. Existing responses remain fragmented, under-resourced and poorly adapted to local contexts. A strong solution must operate effectively under severe constraints of skilled personnel, infrastructure, electricity and connectivity. It should define clear measurable outcomes, identify possible unintended harms, and demonstrate how the intervention can be sustained by local institutions long after initial funding ends.
sustainable
reporting
harassment
remaining
dangerous
other
Future progress on human development and planetary health depends on solving inadequate systems for detecting dangerous asteroids. Conventional approaches have proven insufficient. The required intervention must integrate community knowledge, data and appropriate technology while remaining affordable, privacy-preserving and operable with minimal external support. Strong solutions will articulate measurable impact metrics, risk mitigation strategies, and a plan for sustained operation by local actors after the pilot phase.
approaches
inadequate
systems
detecting
dangerous
social-civic-problems
Future progress on human development and planetary health depends on solving borders remaining dangerous for migrants. Conventional approaches have proven insufficient. The required intervention must integrate community knowledge, data and appropriate technology while remaining affordable, privacy-preserving and operable with minimal external support. Strong solutions will articulate measurable impact metrics, risk mitigation strategies, and a plan for sustained operation by local actors after the pilot phase.
remaining
solutions
borders
dangerous
migrants
social-civic-problems
Future progress on human development and planetary health depends on solving children working in dangerous mines. Conventional approaches have proven insufficient. The required intervention must integrate community knowledge, data and appropriate technology while remaining affordable, privacy-preserving and operable with minimal external support. Strong solutions will articulate measurable impact metrics, risk mitigation strategies, and a plan for sustained operation by local actors after the pilot phase.
children
working
dangerous
mines
strengthening
social-civic-problems
Future progress on human development and planetary health depends on solving prisons dangerously overcrowded. Conventional approaches have proven insufficient. The required intervention must integrate community knowledge, data and appropriate technology while remaining affordable, privacy-preserving and operable with minimal external support. Strong solutions will articulate measurable impact metrics, risk mitigation strategies, and a plan for sustained operation by local actors after the pilot phase.
prisons
dangerously
overcrowded
scaling
successful
social-civic-problems
Future progress on human development and planetary health depends on solving broken and dangerous road networks. Conventional approaches have proven insufficient. The required intervention must integrate community knowledge, data and appropriate technology while remaining affordable, privacy-preserving and operable with minimal external support. Strong solutions will articulate measurable impact metrics, risk mitigation strategies, and a plan for sustained operation by local actors after the pilot phase.
solutions
broken
dangerous
road
networks
social-civic-problems
The problem of dangerous levels of air pollution in cities continues to affect hundreds of millions of people and undermines progress on multiple Sustainable Development Goals. Existing responses remain fragmented, under-resourced and poorly adapted to local contexts. A strong solution must operate effectively under severe constraints of skilled personnel, infrastructure, electricity and connectivity. It should define clear measurable outcomes, identify possible unintended harms, and demonstrate how the intervention can be sustained by local institutions long after initial funding ends.
dangerous
levels
air
pollution
cities
other
Biological design tools are becoming more accessible while oversight remains fragmented across countries and institutions. The challenge is detecting dangerous activity without suppressing legitimate research or creating an intrusive global surveillance system. The solution must produce useful coordination and accountability while minimizing collection of sensitive personal and behavioral data. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.
mathematics-logic
asia
india
surveillance
monitoring
synthetic
biology
risk
mass
while
research
biological
technology-computing
society-governance
climate-environment
economics-resources
systems
without
Biological design tools are becoming more accessible while oversight remains fragmented across countries and institutions. The challenge is detecting dangerous activity without suppressing legitimate research or creating an intrusive global surveillance system. The design must remain functional when standards, trade routes, data access, and diplomatic cooperation are unreliable. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.
mathematics-logic
asia
india
monitoring
synthetic
biology
risk
under
geopolitical
fragmentation
design
research
technology-computing
economics-resources
society-governance
climate-environment
systems
infrastructure
Biological design tools are becoming more accessible while oversight remains fragmented across countries and institutions. The challenge is detecting dangerous activity without suppressing legitimate research or creating an intrusive global surveillance system. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.
mathematics-logic
monitoring
synthetic
biology
risk
low-income
communities
research
biological
design
technology-computing
economics-resources
climate-environment
society-governance
systems
quantum
infrastructure
science-space
open
Mexico, North America
Synthetic biology and AI-assisted design may create biological capabilities that are both socially valuable and potentially dangerous. The unresolved problem is building oversight that reduces misuse risk while keeping legitimate research open and productive. The challenge is especially acute in informal settlements, where legacy systems, coordination failures, and weak oversight can magnify harm.
mathematics-logic
north-america
mexico
informal
settlements
regulating
frontier
biosecurity
blocking
innovation
oversight
synthetic
biology
society-governance
systems
technology-computing
public
climate-environment
A system can be factually sophisticated yet dangerous when users cannot distinguish knowledge, inference, speculation, and fabrication. The challenge is creating interfaces and evaluation standards that communicate uncertainty in ways people actually understand and use. The solution must work with limited capital, intermittent services, and local maintenance capacity. The research opportunity is to define measurable success criteria, test the approach in realistic settings, identify failure modes, and create a pathway from prototype to accountable deployment.
economics-resources
uncertainty
reliable
communication
frontier
systems
low-income
communities
system
factually
sophisticated
technology-computing
climate-environment
society-governance
science-space
quantum
infrastructure
social-civic-problems
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Safety filters designed to block clearly harmful requests can sometimes be bypassed through indirect or creatively phrased questions that still elicit dangerous information. Closing this gap while preserving the system's general usefulness remains an unresolved balancing act.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
dangerous
questions
phrased
haven
found
way
prevent
chat
systems
unintentionally
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
resolved
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Instruction manuals generated automatically for online product listings sometimes contain fabricated or inaccurate safety information, since the process isn't always reviewed by someone with real product knowledge. This creates real safety risks for consumers.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
product
manuals
contain
build
fully
reliable
systems
detect
ai-generated
fake
philosophy-ethics
whether
mathematics-logic
prevent
way
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Many aging pieces of infrastructure lack continuous, affordable monitoring systems capable of detecting subtle structural problems well before they become dangerous. Making this kind of predictive monitoring widely affordable remains an unresolved engineering challenge.
society-governance
global-unspecified
affordable
structural
aging
yet
build
technology
detect
weaknesses
bridges
buildings
whether
philosophy-ethics
health-biology
mathematics-logic
haven
climate-environment
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
Automatically applying every software update reduces security risk but occasionally introduces new bugs or incompatibilities, while manual review introduces dangerous delays. Balancing these risks reliably remains an unresolved operational challenge.
technology-computing
global-unspecified
software
haven
solved
make
patch
management
fully
automatic
risking
unexpected
whether
philosophy-ethics
mathematics-logic
resolved
possible
way
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
AI health tools can sometimes provide advice that sounds plausible but is subtly wrong or dangerous, and there's no consistent, scalable system for catching these errors before they reach real patients. This gap grows more urgent as AI health tools become more widely used.
health-biology
global-unspecified
scalable
advice
patients
don
have
way
verify
accuracy
ai-generated
medical
whether
philosophy-ethics
determine
resolved
agreed
open
Global / Unspecified, Global
By 2040, editing tools and gene drives could reshape ecosystems or be misused to create dangerous pathogens. Governance frameworks, secure design pipelines, and ethics review infrastructures are needed.
philosophy-ethics
global-unspecified
editing
synthetic
biology
genome
will
raise
complex
biosecurity
ethical
2040
society-governance
governance
mathematics-logic
frameworks
use
Decades of subsidized electricity have encouraged excessive borewell pumping, dropping water tables dangerously fast. Smart metering combined with drip-irrigation subsidies could slow depletion.
local-regional
asia
india
food-security
depletion
groundwater
irrigation
threatens
long-term
food
security
pakistan
decades
global-unspecified
climate-environment
water
urban
long
open
South & Southeast Asia, Asia
Rising temperatures combined with high humidity are pushing some regions toward conditions where outdoor work becomes dangerous. Heat-early-warning systems and outdoor worker protection policies need urgent development.
climate-environment
asia
south-southeast-asia
extreme
heatwaves
becoming
frequent
deadly
south
southeast
outdoor
rising
systems
economics-resources
society-governance
real
time
predicting