World Solve

extended family support disappearing remains one of the most urgent challenges of our time. Systems currently in place are inadequate for the scale and complexity of the problem. A successful approach must work where resources are scarcest and demonstrate clear, measurable results. It should identify possible harms, respect local agency, and show how the solution can be maintained and expanded by the communities it is meant to serve.

If access to longevity technologies is unequal, societies may face new divisions over wealth, inheritance, authority, and opportunity. Ethical and fiscal systems must prevent extended life from becoming a mechanism for permanent elite control. 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.

Many users experience nausea, eye strain, or disorientation after even moderate use of virtual reality headsets, a problem that hasn't been fully solved despite years of hardware improvements. This limits how widely VR can be adopted for work or daily use.

Resistance genes move through soil, water, and food chains, making hospital-focused interventions insufficient. One-Health regulatory frameworks and monitoring tools are required.

Old ice archives can extend climate reconstructions, but drilling and analysis are costly and complex. Improved drilling technology and coordinated core-analysis programmes can unlock more data.

Informal workers and rural populations often have no access to unemployment insurance or pensions. Digital ID-linked social security schemes can extend coverage at lower administrative cost.

Platform workers often have no benefits or stability. Regulatory frameworks for gig work can extend protections.

Mortgage products often require formal employment and high down payments that many cannot meet, pushing families into informal housing. Micro-mortgage products and cooperative housing finance could extend access.

Millions of workers in transport, delivery, and informal retail have no protection against accidents or income shocks. Micro-insurance products linked to daily transactions could extend coverage.

Most specialists cluster in major cities, leaving rural clinics with only general practitioners for complex conditions. Telemedicine networks linking rural clinics to urban specialists could extend care affordably.

Most informal workers have no employer-based retirement savings, risking poverty in old age as populations age rapidly. Portable, mobile-based voluntary pension schemes could extend coverage to gig and informal workers.

Ride-hailing and delivery platform workers often have no formal contracts, benefits, or dispute-resolution mechanisms. Portable benefits platforms tied to worker digital IDs could extend protections across platforms.

The majority of workers lack formal contracts, social security, or legal protections, leaving them vulnerable to economic shocks. Digital tools that gradually formalize small businesses without heavy bureaucracy could extend protections.

Secondary cities often have no real-time air-quality data, leaving residents unaware of health risks on high-pollution days. Low-cost sensor networks could extend monitoring coverage affordably.

Fewer than 1.4 psychiatrists exist per 100,000 people in many countries, leaving depression and trauma largely untreated. Telepsychiatry platforms and trained lay counselors could extend coverage cheaply.

Over 80% of African employment is informal, meaning no pensions, health insurance, or job security for most workers. Digital tools to formalize informal businesses gradually could extend protections without heavy bureaucracy.

Navigating craft and rovers on the lunar farside or in deep space relies heavily on congested Earth ground antenna networks. Scalable lunar and deep-space autonomous navigation and timing constellations are needed.

Over 80% of workers in countries like India, Bangladesh, and Nepal operate within informal economies without access to pensions, disability insurance, or minimum wage guarantees. Traditional bureaucratic tax and welfare systems fail to track or protect these transient and cash-reliant populations during economic shocks.

Extended antibiotic use can disrupt gut bacteria in ways that cause lasting digestive problems for some patients, even after the antibiotics are no longer needed. Better protection of the gut microbiome during necessary antibiotic treatment remains undeveloped.

Patients confined to bed for extended periods remain at risk of developing painful pressure sores despite standard prevention protocols, especially in understaffed care settings. More effective, easier-to-implement prevention methods remain needed.