2005 Manhattan Project

Put on your thinking caps because I have a bit of a challenge for you. Imagine for a moment that you have been put in charge of vast amounts of money and resources on a global scale with the purpose of improving the world and life for humanity in general. You are empowered to set up a modern day "Manhattan Project", where the absolute top minds in the required fields from all over the world will be lured by high salaries and fully funded modern research facilities. They will be given as long as they need. Funding will come, in large part, from the United States, but also from the IMF and other industrialized nations. No demand, within very generous reason, will be denied to these experts in their quest to succeed.

Now... what problem would you have them solve? It can be an invention, an innovation, a discovery, or however else you want to phrase it. And it doesn't necessarily have to be in one of the physical sciences. There are no limits on this. What one problem, need, etc. facing the world would you like to see such a project address to provide the greatest amount of improvement to the world... the greatest benefit to all.

Unlike in other discussions, I'm not asking for you to propose a solution. I don't expect some reader to write in and say, "Oh, yes... by the way, I've come up with a cure for male pattern baldness in my basement this week." You don't need to have a clue about how to fix it. Just select the problem, challenge or need that our world faces which you would solve with the ability to assemble a project on this scale. Feel free to mention just how such a solution would benefit the entire world. If your answer is too long for comments (or if Haloscan is broken yet again, or if you just don't want to post publicly) feel free to drop me an e-mail. If I get any interesting ones, I'll post them here at a later date.

Go for it. You rule the free world. What problem will you solve?