World Solve

Addressing soil microbes dying is critical for achieving the 2030 Agenda. Current efforts fall short in scale, speed and equity, leaving the most vulnerable behind. Any viable solution must function in low-resource settings with limited specialists, transport, laboratory capacity and broadband. Proposals should specify quantifiable biological, social or environmental outcomes, openly discuss potential risks, and present a realistic pathway for long-term maintenance and local ownership beyond short research pilots.

Future crops, microbes, and fermentation systems may depend on patented seeds, strains, software, or inputs. The open problem is preserving farmer and national autonomy while rewarding useful innovation. 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.

Engineered microbes, insects, crops, and gene drives may offer major ecological benefits but could spread beyond intended boundaries. The unresolved problem is developing reversible, monitorable, and internationally governed release frameworks. 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.

Sterilization requirements to avoid contaminating Mars with Earth microbes make landers exceptionally expensive and slow to build. Advanced bio-decontamination standards and rapid cleanroom testing methods are required.

Evidence suggests Mars once had liquid water, a key ingredient for life, but no mission has yet found conclusive proof of past or present microbes. Answering this remains one of planetary science's biggest open questions.

Develop indicators, incentives, and farming practices that preserve soil fungi, invertebrates, microbes, and structure while sustaining production.

A persistent gap exists in realizing practical, scalable solutions for biotechnologies for engineering microbes that degrade persistent environmental pollutants. 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.

The absence of robust, context-adapted solutions for biotechnologies for engineering microbes that produce biodegradable alternatives to conventional plastics 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.