About this project

This project grew out of a list of millennium problems for biology proposed by Sam Rodriques and Michaela Hinks of Edison Scientific · FutureHouse. The list sparked debate on X about which challenges belong on it—and what makes a problem worthy of the name.

We wanted to turn that discussion into a community vote. The original list is a starting point: readers can support the problems they find most important and put forward ideas of their own.

How it works

• Pick up to seven problems. Select Support beside a problem to add it to your ballot. You can open any problem to read more. When ready, select Submit ballot and enter your name, organization, and email. Choices are counted only after submission; to change a submitted ballot, edit your choices and submit again. No account or email verification is needed; your ballot is remembered in this browser.
• Anyone can propose a new problem. Sign up or sign in with a verified email, then submit a title, a one-sentence problem, and an explanation of how to validate a solution. New submissions are reviewed before they appear on the ballot. Aim for a challenge that is verifiable, frontier-defining, and generative.
• New ideas get a chance to be seen. Discover gives less-seen proposals early visibility. The order is independent of vote totals and does not represent a ranking.
• Voting stays private until the announcement. You can see only your own selections. Vote totals and rankings will be revealed with the winners on October 15th.

On October 15th, we’ll reveal the community’s preferences.

This is an independent community initiative, not an official prize or a claim of scientific consensus. Credit for the original proposals remains with their authors; inclusion here does not imply their endorsement of this ballot.