Frontier
Extends the boundary of human capability.
COMPASS · DARK-STAR CATALOGUE
Where civilization remains dark, and where effort may matter most.
The Compass maps unresolved civilizational gaps across Frontier, Guardrails and Foundations. A Dark Star's potential tier describes the possible scale of a breakthrough. It is not a realized result, a person score, or a forecast.
All 1154 records are accessible through English navigation. Titles and summaries are translated for 347 records; 807 remain in Chinese and are marked as awaiting translation. Detailed records remain in Chinese.
View live review and source coverage (Chinese) →CATALOGUE · LIVE DERIVATION
Potential tiers, from high to low.
Lighting up a Dark Star is a relationship that must be established by evidence. Each contributor’s realized contribution is assessed independently through an outcome ledger; no personal score is inherited from a Dark Star’s potential.
Explore 1154 Dark Stars, with their challenges, progress and the teams working on them. How potential is assessed →
Potential T90 records
A key that could unlock the rest
No catalogued T9 potential Dark Star is currently ready for display.
Potential T82 records
An invisible wall on a half-century scale
Resolving it could loosen a long-standing stall on an entire axis.
Potential T725 records
A decisive threshold
These are often problems an entire generation cannot work around.
EPotential T7
AI for scientific discovery
Discover new algorithms in automatically verifiable scientific tasks.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T7
Room-temperature superconductivity
Zero resistance at room temperature.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T7
Neuroscience of consciousness
Neuroscience of consciousness
Explain subjective experience and neural activity through preregistered competing theories and cross-tool replication.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T7
Quantum gravity
Quantum gravity
Unify physics where its two pillars conflict: black holes and the beginning of the universe.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T7
Yang–Mills mass gap
Yang–Mills mass gap
Construct four-dimensional quantum Yang–Mills theory and prove a positive mass gap.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T7
The Langlands program
The Langlands program
Connect the arithmetic core of number theory and representation theory after geometric milestones.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T7
The nature of dark matter
The nature of dark matter
Identify the particle or other physics behind the universe's gravitational dark component.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T7
Dark energy
Dark energy
Explain cosmic acceleration and determine whether dark energy is constant or evolving.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T7
Matter–antimatter asymmetry
Matter–antimatter asymmetry
Find why the early universe retained ordinary matter.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T7
Bloom's two-sigma problem
Reproduce high-quality one-to-one tutoring gains at real school costs.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T7
AI control protocols
AI control protocols
Use permissions, monitoring and audits to contain catastrophic actions even when objectives are untrusted.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T7
Nuclear command and control safety
Nuclear command and control safety
Prevent mistaken or unauthorized nuclear use amid cyberattack, warning failure and crisis pressure.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T7
Aneutronic fusion
Aneutronic fusion
Reduce neutron burden to auditable levels while retaining net electricity across the full system.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T7
Detection of extraterrestrial life
Distinguish independent life from non-biological processes on worlds near and far.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T7
Reversible computing
Reversible computing
Beat the efficiency of the best irreversible architecture at equal throughput and error rate.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T7
Criteria for digital minds
Criteria for digital minds
Connect scientific indicators to graded protection obligations under uncertainty about consciousness.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T7
Topological qubits · anyon encoding
Topological qubits · anyon encoding
Build quantum information into topology itself, leaving noise little room to act.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T7
Whole-brain simulation and connectome reconstruction
Whole-brain simulation and connectome reconstruction
Turn a brain's wiring map into a functioning simulation, not merely connection data.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T7
Legal protection gap for climate migration
Existing law does not create an independent status for all climate-displaced people.
Chinese detailed record →CATALOGUE
6 more records
Browse every record in this tier, with untranslated Chinese entries explicitly marked.
Open English tier →Potential T6193 records
A high ground already under attack
The route is becoming clearer, but a decisive advance is still missing.
EPotential T6
Fusion breeding blankets
The hidden wall of controlled fusion.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
Protein design
Design proteins from scratch.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T6
Intervening in aging
Make aging a tractable target.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
General-purpose robotics
Hands that can do useful work.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
Self-driving laboratories · automated science
Self-driving laboratories · automated science
Close the loop from hypothesis to experiment to iteration and raise science's output.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T6
Broad-spectrum antivirals and rapid adaptation platforms
Broad-spectrum antivirals and rapid adaptation platforms
Prepare drugs for many viruses before a new one reaches the clinic.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
Limb regeneration
Limb regeneration
Why can salamanders regrow a leg while humans cannot?
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
Minimal synthetic cells
Minimal synthetic cells
Build cells that can obtain energy, replicate, divide and evolve from nonliving components.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T6
Gene-drive governance
Gene-drive governance
Set boundaries before self-spreading genetic technologies are released into wild populations.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T6
Gain-of-function governance
Gain-of-function governance
A global brake for research that increases pathogen transmissibility or lethality.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
The Riemann hypothesis
The Riemann hypothesis
A foundational number-theory problem about zeta-function zeros and the distribution of primes.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
The nature of neutrinos
The nature of neutrinos
Whether neutrinos are their own antiparticles bears on mass and matter itself.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
Strong CP and the axion
Strong CP and the axion
Why strong interactions preserve CP symmetry, and whether the axion also explains dark matter.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
Proton decay
Proton decay
The direct experimental window on grand unification.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
The Higgs frontier
The Higgs frontier
A post-LHC choice over energy frontiers and precision needed to test the Higgs and vacuum stability.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
Formalized mathematics
Formalized mathematics
Move mathematics into machine-verifiable systems: a foundation for trust and for AI mathematics.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
Statistical theory of turbulence
Predict intermittency, structure functions and transport from equations within stated boundaries.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
Universal nonequilibrium theory
Universal nonequilibrium theory
Find bounded common laws for far-from-equilibrium flow, fluctuation and dissipation.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T6
Quantum repeaters
Quantum repeaters
Distribute entanglement to connect quantum computers and sensors into a new network layer.
Chinese detailed record →CATALOGUE
174 more records
Browse every record in this tier, with untranslated Chinese entries explicitly marked.
Open English tier →Potential T5554 records
Real, but lower in the current ordering
These gaps matter; their potential is simply not among the highest currently catalogued.
EPotential T5
The power wall
Energy as the foundation for computing capacity and the frontier.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T5
DNA writing
Move from reading genes to writing them.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T5
Reforming science funding
Reforming science funding
Repair the upstream machinery that produces breakthroughs: funding and review.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T5
AI × bio · the red-line intersection
AI × bio · the red-line intersection
AI lowers the barrier to engineered pandemics, making defensive investment unusually asymmetric.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T5
Mechanistic interpretability
Mechanistic interpretability
Open the neural-network black box and see what it is computing.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T5
Fault-tolerant quantum computing
Make qubits stable and scalable enough to cross from demonstration to hard problems.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T5
Brain–computer interfaces
Let brains communicate directly with machines.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T5
Solid-state batteries
Replace liquid electrolyte to improve both energy density and safety.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T5
Neuromorphic computing
Neuromorphic computing
Compute intelligently at very low power using brain-inspired chips.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T5
Long-duration energy storage
Store wind and solar power for tens of hours through seasons.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T5
Mirror life · draw the line before creation
Mirror life · draw the line before creation
Preventive governance before a potentially irreversible form of life is made.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T5
General mRNA platforms
General mRNA platforms
Make mRNA a rapid target-switching platform for more diseases and pathogens.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T5
Alzheimer's and neurodegeneration
Alzheimer's and neurodegeneration
Find interventions that genuinely reverse disease progression.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T5
Universal vaccine platforms
Universal vaccine platforms
Build broad, fast-response vaccines before the next pandemic.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T5
Precision fermentation · biomanufacturing
Precision fermentation · biomanufacturing
Use microbial factories for medicines, materials and food ingredients.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T5
Institutional engineering · cooperative governance
Institutional engineering · cooperative governance
Keep the foundations of democratic cooperation from being emptied out.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T5
Care work · institutionalized realization work
Care work · institutionalized realization work
Make essential care visible and sustainable as a physical carrier of the realization gate.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T5
Enhanced geothermal · deep drilling
Enhanced geothermal · deep drilling
Bring drilling technology into granite so geothermal power can work beyond volcanic regions.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T5
Biological nitrogen fixation
Biological nitrogen fixation
Let crops fix nitrogen like legumes and reduce fertilizer dependence.
Chinese detailed record →CATALOGUE
535 more records
Browse every record in this tier, with untranslated Chinese entries explicitly marked.
Open English tier →Potential T4233 records
Concrete, durable points of attack
Their boundaries are legible enough to offer a first entry into a civilization-scale problem.
RPotential T4
Post-quantum cryptography
Move encryption to quantum-resistant algorithms before the window closes.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T4
EUV lithography
The physical gateway to more advanced chips.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T4
Direct air capture of CO₂
Remove carbon from air at scalable cost and energy use.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T4
Grid modernization
Let aging grids absorb distributed generation and volatile loads.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T4
Space-based solar power
Space-based solar power
Generate in orbit and transmit power to Earth regardless of weather or night.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T4
Low-energy desalination
Low-energy desalination
Make fresh water abundant while reducing energy use and brine damage.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T4
Artificial wombs
Artificial wombs
Support safe external gestation, beginning with premature infants.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T4
Organ cryopreservation banks
Turn transplantation from a race against time into managed inventory.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T4
Xenotransplantation
Xenotransplantation
Address organ scarcity while overcoming cross-species rejection and viral risk.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T4
Artificial blood
Artificial blood
Create a scalable, storable synthetic oxygen carrier.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T4
A new tuberculosis vaccine
A new tuberculosis vaccine
Replace the century-old vaccine with one that works against adult pulmonary TB.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T4
Non-addictive pain relief
Non-addictive pain relief
Deliver effective analgesia without addiction.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T4
Subsea-cable resilience
Subsea-cable resilience
Protect a fragile single point in the physical internet.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T4
Terahertz communications
Terahertz communications
Open the 100 GHz–1 THz frontier of wireless bandwidth.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T4
Disruption-tolerant communications
Disruption-tolerant communications
Maintain basic self-organizing communications when stations, power and internet fail.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T4
Dynamic spectrum sharing
Dynamic spectrum sharing
Expand wireless capacity through real-time sensing and coordination.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T4
Timing resilience
Timing resilience
Back up GNSS timing, a single point for finance, grids and communications.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T4
Routing and root security
Routing and root security
Fix structural weaknesses in BGP routing and DNS.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T4
Low-cost cross-border payments
Low-cost cross-border payments
Cut the channel tax on remittances sent by the poorest workers.
Chinese detailed record →CATALOGUE
214 more records
Browse every record in this tier, with untranslated Chinese entries explicitly marked.
Open English tier →Potential T328 records
Focused sector challenges
Their scope is limited, but progress can still move a field forward.
EPotential T3
On-orbit cryogenic refuelling
On-orbit cryogenic refuelling
Enable reusable launchers to store and transfer propellant for deep space.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
Electrofuels
Electrofuels
Use clean electricity to synthesize liquid fuels for hard-to-electrify transport.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
Uranium from seawater
Uranium from seawater
Make the ocean's millennial uranium reserve usable.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
Small modular reactors
Small modular reactors
Standardize nuclear power for factory-scale production.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
Nuclear-waste transmutation
Nuclear-waste transmutation
Convert long-lived waste into shorter-lived isotopes.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T3
Soil restoration · carbon farming
Soil restoration · carbon farming
Restore soils while storing carbon and producing food.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T3
Alternative protein · cellular agriculture
Alternative protein · cellular agriculture
Make affordable protein without the land and climate burden of conventional production.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
Number sense
Number sense
Explain how brains represent quantity and approximation.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
Vertical-farm economics
Vertical-farm economics
Make controlled-environment agriculture viable despite energy and capital costs.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T3
Banana TR4
Banana TR4
Protect a globally dominant crop from a soil fungus and genetic monoculture.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential T3
Biofortification
Biofortification
Put missing micronutrients into staple crops.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
Neuroaesthetics
Neuroaesthetics
Explain why beauty exists and how art acts on minds and society.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential T3
Enhanced rock weathering
Enhanced rock weathering
Measure and scale carbon removal by accelerating natural weathering.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
Scaling ocean energy
Scaling ocean energy
Move wave and tidal power beyond six decades without a dominant design.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
Megawatt electric propulsion
Megawatt electric propulsion
Raise electric propulsion to the scale needed for Mars freight.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
In-space assembly
In-space assembly
Build orbital structures beyond launch-fairing limits.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
Lunar resources
Lunar resources
Use lunar soil and ice for oxygen, water and metals.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
Mars propellant
Mars propellant
Make return fuel from Martian CO₂ and subsurface ice.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential T3
Artificial gills
Artificial gills
Extract dissolved oxygen from water without conventional diving equipment.
Chinese detailed record →CATALOGUE
9 more records
Browse every record in this tier, with untranslated Chinese entries explicitly marked.
Open English tier →Potential T21 records
Specific implementation barriers
Narrow technical bottlenecks where frontline participation can matter.
Potential pending118 records
Catalogued, not yet tiered.
These entries have no potential tier. Their inclusion does not imply an ordering.
RPotential pending
Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
The number of rational points on an elliptic curve is hidden in zeros of an L-function.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Goldbach's conjecture
Goldbach's conjecture
Every even integer greater than two is the sum of two primes, still unproved after vast verification.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Smooth four-dimensional Poincaré conjecture
Smooth four-dimensional Poincaré conjecture
The smooth four-dimensional case remains topology's last Poincaré frontier.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Jacobian conjecture
Jacobian conjecture
Does a polynomial map with constant nonzero Jacobian always have an inverse?
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Hadwiger–Nelson problem
Hadwiger–Nelson problem
How many colors are needed to color the plane when points one unit apart must differ?
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Baum–Connes conjecture
Baum–Connes conjecture
Can a group's symmetries be fully captured by the K-theory of its operator algebra?
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Senolytics in humans
Senolytics in humans
Clear senescent cells that remain alive but no longer serve the body.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Synthetic embryo models
Synthetic embryo models
Model early development from stem cells in vitro, without creating viable human embryos.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Organoid intelligence
Organoid intelligence
Teach living brain tissue to compute and learn.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
In-vivo gene-editing delivery
In-vivo gene-editing delivery
Deliver CRISPR safely throughout the body with next-generation vectors.
Chinese detailed record →
EPotential pending
Minimally invasive high-bandwidth BCI
Minimally invasive high-bandwidth BCI
Hear brain signals clearly without opening the skull.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Thymus regeneration
Thymus regeneration
Rebuild the immune system's training ground to reverse immune aging.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Whole-body cryopreservation
Whole-body cryopreservation
Preserve cases medicine cannot yet treat until answers exist.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Parkinson's disease modification
Parkinson's disease modification
Stop neuronal death rather than only suppressing symptoms.
Chinese detailed record →
APotential pending
A validated aging-biomarker platform
A validated aging-biomarker platform
Make the world's aging measures agree on the same quantity.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Open the black box of a cancer usually found too late.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
CAR-T for autoimmune disease
CAR-T for autoimmune disease
Teach the immune system to stop attacking the body.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Candida auris
Candida auris
Contain a drug-resistant fungal pathogen that persists and spreads in hospitals.
Chinese detailed record →
RPotential pending
Long COVID and ME/CFS
Long COVID and ME/CFS
Find mechanisms for disabling chronic illness after infection.
Chinese detailed record →CATALOGUE
99 more records
Browse the remaining records awaiting tiering; untranslated entries are explicitly marked.
Open English tier →DISTRIBUTION
The three axes of the current catalogue.
Guardrails
Keeps increasing power in service of people; this axis has veto force.
Foundations
Helps civilization's gains reach everyone.
5 additional records have an axis pending review and are not included in these three counts.