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A living collection from the Altringer Eagle Lab at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering. Problems come from expert input and from what experts publish: research agendas, standards roadmaps, agency reports. The Problem Genome system drafts each write-up, and its sources are checked before it enters the collection. It can make mistakes. It exists to put problem definition at the center of innovation. Problem definitions here can be cited, and so can improvements to them. Teams can reach domain knowledge early and contribute what they learn.

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Genome › Breakthrough needed

Breakthrough needed · gene 10 of 15

a material that doesn't exist

94 problems carry this gene · breakthrough:materials

These problems come down to physical matter we don't have yet: a membrane that filters one molecule and passes another, a battery chemistry without a scarce metal, insulation that survives fire without toxic additives. No known material does the job. Solving the problem means discovering or engineering matter with properties nothing currently offers.

Related genes

a new way to makeprocessthe thing can exist, but no one has a manufacturing or operating method that produces it when needed make it affordablecost-reductiona real solution exists, and it costs too much for the people who need it no known way to build ittechnicalthe core barrier is an engineering or scientific challenge that no known approach can solve the science isn't there yettheoretical-gapno one can seriously attempt a solution, because the fundamental understanding it would rest on doesn't exist

How to recognize it

Write down the properties the application demands, such as strength, temperature, selectivity, cost, and safety, and check them against every known class of material. If nothing meets the list, this gene applies. If a material exists but can't be produced at scale, the gap is 'a new way to make'.

Our system re-reads samples blind to test genes like this one. Genes it disagrees on are drawn dashed.

94 problems in 17 fields. Filter them, then share the link.

field: the built worldwhen the ash ran outthe rules got in the waymedium field: making & materialsthe engine-block sink is drainingit fell between the crackshigh field: making & materialsclear, compostable, pick onetested in the wrong worldmedium field: health & medicinethe floor as a disease vectorbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energytemperate fixes for tropical acid minestested in the wrong worldhigh field: digital & spacesurviving reentry once is easy, twice is unsolvedtested in the wrong worldmedium field: society & learningshelters designed for winter, deployed in the desertmeasured the wrong thingmedium field: making & materialsten thousand litres of solvent per kilo of peptidetested in the wrong worldhigh field: making & materialssafer solvents that can't do the jobthe rules got in the wayhigh field: making & materialsclean chemistry that eats its own electrodestested in the wrong worldmedium field: making & materialsthe drop dries wrong every timetested in the wrong worldmedium field: making & materialsthe enzyme works until you scale ittested in the wrong worldhigh field: making & materialsevery drug needs a metal we're running out oftested in the wrong worldhigh field: the built worldjet fuel from air, at the wrong chain lengthtested in the wrong worldmedium field: the built worldthe battery eats the cargo spacebuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: the built worldthe clean fuel that warms the seatested in the wrong worldmedium field: making & materialsstrong or charged, not yet bothtested in the wrong worldmedium field: making & materialssteel without coal still needs carbontested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energythe ceiling sweats before it coolstested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energywhere rivers meet oceans, the energy staystested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energythe salt eats the tanktested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energywarm all winter, dirty at peaktested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energyship the hydrogen, lose a thirdtested in the wrong worldmedium field: the built worldcement can't quit fossil heattested in the wrong worldmedium field: food & the living worldthe sorbent works until real air touches ittested in the wrong worldmedium field: making & materialslab brine cooperates, field brine doesn'ttested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinea million fibers that won't regrowit fell between the crackshigh field: health & medicinefragile drugs, broken cold chainstested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinecartilage that refuses to grow backtested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinegrafted neurons that won't connecttested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicineorgans without blood vesselstested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldthe same mistake, the same bananatested in the wrong worldhigh field: digital & spaceigniting fuel in a thousandth of a secondtested in the wrong worldhigh field: making & materialsone pinhole ruins the solid-state batterytested in the wrong worldmedium field: making & materialsspider silk without the spider or the scaletested in the wrong worldmedium field: health & medicineright cargo, wrong addresstested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldmeat without animals, at any pricetested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energythe water after the fireit fell between the cracksmedium field: food & the living worldtwo parts per million, impossible to extractit fell between the cracksmedium field: water & energyprinted cheap, faded by summertested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energyfourteen hundred degrees, no clean flametested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energycooling the world while burning ittested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energythe carbon we captured is too dirty to usetested in the wrong worldmedium field: making & materialsgold recovered, rare earths losttested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldforever chemicals in the farmlandtested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energyno fire suppression works on a burning batterytested in the wrong worldhigh field: making & materialsevery qubit slightly differenttested in the wrong worldhigh field: making & materialsmagic angles that can't be mass-producedtested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicineno synthetic material listens to the bodyit fell between the crackshigh field: making & materialschips built with forever chemicalstested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinethe joint replacement corrodes in silencethe rules got in the wayhigh field: health & medicinesterilized and still infectioustested in the wrong worldhigh field: making & materialsseven plastics in the bin, no universal recyclertested in the wrong worldhigh field: making & materialsboiling mixtures because nothing else works at scaletested in the wrong worldhigh field: making & materialscheap metals, clumsy reactionstested in the wrong worldhigh field: digital & spacethirteen years to uranus, no battery laststhe economics don't workhigh field: digital & spaceno eyes on the cold universe since 2013tested in the wrong worldhigh field: digital & spaceeverything registers except dark matterit fell between the crackshigh field: food & the living worldthe sensors die before the science maturestested in the wrong worldhigh field: making & materialsforty years and still no stronger magnetit fell between the crackshigh field: the built worldthree percent of the pipes, most of the leaksthe rules got in the wayhigh field: society & learningthe tent becomes an oven by noonmeasured the wrong thinghigh field: health & medicinetwenty years of pills, the worm returnstested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinethe needle that can't get therebuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinea scare that stalled a vaccine for decadesthe rules got in the wayhigh field: water & energypredictable power, prohibitive pricethe economics don't workhigh field: water & energyfour hours of storage for a hundred hours of needtested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energythe pipe melts before the cycle completestested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energynothing survives the sun's edgetested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energytoo thin to catch, too potent to ignorebuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energywinter halves the batterybuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energytoo heavy to fly cleantested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energyno fuse exists for this voltagethe economics don't workhigh field: water & energyelectricity without a bottletested in the wrong worldhigh field: the built worldmaterials rated for a climate that's gonethe rules got in the wayhigh field: health & medicineseeing through skin, barelytested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldforever chemicals with no known destroyertested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energycarbon in, chaos outtested in the wrong worldhigh field: digital & spacethe spectrum nobody can build radios forit fell between the crackshigh field: digital & spacenothing survives fourteen nights at minus two-thirtythe economics don't workhigh field: digital & spaceoxygen locked in moon dusttested in the wrong worldhigh field: digital & spacehalf the oxygen vented to spacetested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energyblades bigger than a boeing, nowhere to recyclethe rules got in the wayhigh field: water & energyhydrogen flows before the rules arrivetested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energyup to four years for a large power transformerthe economics don't workmedium field: water & energygarbage in, corrosion outtested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energyone atom thick, impossible to manufacturetested in the wrong worldhigh field: making & materialsai needs more bandwidth than packages can delivertested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldbrilliant in the lab, corroded in the seatested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinetwenty-five years in the lab, not in the eyetested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinethe body walls off every sensortested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinethe vaccine froze and nobody noticedthe economics don't workmedium field: making & materialsthe metals we throw awaytested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldprecise until it matterstested in the wrong worldhigh