Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the fundamental constitutes of matter and their interactions. This article reviews the major progress and breakthroughs of particle physics in 2018, including Higgs physics, searches for new physics, neutrino physics, searches for dark matter, studies of new quark states and strong interaction, and the developments of future colliders.

In 2018, significant progresses have been made in traditional and interdisciplinary research fields of chemistry. In this article we review some selected hot spots, including design of new molecules, chemical imaging, catalysis and synthesis, chiral molecular science, machine learning in chemistry, chemical biology, and materials chemistry. We also introduce the outstanding advances made by Chinese chemists in 2018.

Astronomy is a science based on observation, whose development relies on observation and data analysis. The top astronomy events in 2018 are divided into basic research and development of instruments and tools. The top events are selected by referring to the high citation papers in SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) and hot news.

This paper reviews the important research progresses, major strategic adjustments, and newly lunched spacecraft for space science in 2018. The contents include Gaia creates richest star map of our Galaxy and beyond, NASA traces source of cosmic neutrino to monster black hole, steep slopes on Mars reveal the structure of buried ice, Voyager-2 probe enters interstellar space, the United States implemented a range of space strategies, Russia announced the road map of its lunar program, ISECG updated the Global Exploration Roadmap, NASA launched PSP on historic journey to touch sun, and China's Chang'e-4 launches for the mission to the Moon's far side.

The near space is mysterious and fascinating and its resources are far from being effectively utilized. The near space vehicle is an inevitable tool for understanding and utilizing the near space. Looking back on the near space craft hotspots in 2018, we review in this paper the strategic priority research program "Near space science experiment system" (referred to as HongHu project) launched by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Google's Project Loon which aimed at stratospheric balloon networking to complete 7 goals relay of 1000 km with the longest single-hop transmission distance of 600km, and the new record of high-altitude during time created by Zephyr S drone. We also summarize those hot spots such as hypersonic vehicles, gliding missiles, aerated cruisers, Virgin Galactic Space Ship Ⅱ, and Blue Origin's New Shepard. With the exploration and cognition, combat and defense, migration and sharing, the near space will certainly become a more colorful stage.

Deep space exploration, or solar system missions, with spacecraft as the tool probing the distant regions of outer space, aims to investigate the celestial body except Earth, i.e. the moon and beyond, along with the space environment. The year of 2018 marked the global flourishing deep space activities. China CE-4 probe achieved the historic touchdown on the far side of the moon, and will patrol on lunar surface. NASA InSight mission successfully landed on Mars to study in-depth the "inner space" of the red planet. The joint ESAJAXA Bepi-Colombo mission is on the way to Mercury. And NASA Parker solar probe will be the first-ever mission to "touch" the Sun. In the opposite direction, New Horizons mission made the asteroid Ultima Thule flyby located in Kuiper belt. Voyager 2 reached the heliopause, breaking out of the solar system. And the asteroid missions, both OSIRIS-Rex and Hayabusa-2 respectively from NASA and JAXA, arrived at their own target objects. The discoveries, like water ice found on moon, organic molecules found in Mars, and the information about the boundary where the solar system essentially ends, are of great importance to the exploration of origin of life, origin and evolution of solar system, and to the advancing of human's knowledge.

In 2018, Chinese agriculture science obtained further development. The main food crops including wheat, rice, corn, soybean, buckwheat and potato had rapid development in aspects of genome sequencing, molecular breeding, genetic mechanism analysis, efficient nitrogen utilization, origin and evolution, gene editing. Specially, China issued the world's first genome map of hexaploid wheat, completed genome sequencing of 3000 rice accessions and soybean accession of Zhonghuang 13, cloned a series genes of production, quality and diseases and insects resistance, and analyzed some growth and development regulatory mechanisms. Some important commercial crops such as rape, cotton, tea, and tobacco had breakthroughs in genomics, flavor regulation mechanism, photosynthetic efficiency, etc. China's basic and application research of rape attained the international leading level. Moreover, a large number of breakthrough achievements were made in, for instance, the control of plant diseases and insect pests of rice, wheat, tomato, apple etc., breeding, varieties improvement and disease control and prevention of livestock and poultry, genome and transcriptome of bees, disease control and domestication of silkworm, impact of fertilizer and rice varieties on climate change, the impact of climate change on crop yield, stems leafy vegetables and edible bean harvesting equipment mechanization as well as rapeseeds sower technology, and other fields.

Tumor immunotherapy has become a first line option for cancer treatment, a hot field in cancer research and a weapon to overcome cancer in the future. A series of tumor immunotherapeutic drugs have been approved and used in clinic. Also the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2018 was awarded to two immunologists who had made outstanding contributions to tumor immunotherapy, revealing the coming of immunotherapy age. This article outlines the hotspots and advances of tumor immunology and immunotherapy in 2018, including the discovery of new immune checkpoints, in-depth understanding of T cell exhaustion, discovery of new tumor immunosuppressive cell subsets, and exploration of new strategies for tumor immunotherapy. These studies will further promote the development of tumor immunotherapy and bring more effective treatments to cancer patients.

The advanced fiber reinforced composites in 2018 in terms of molding process, performance optimization, product innovation, cost reduction, technology conversion, etc. are reviewed, and the applications of advanced fiber reinforced composites in aerospace, rail transit, automotive, marine and energy fields are addressed. Some problems to be solved and the future development are proposed for innovation and R&D of advanced fiber composites and maturity of technology.

This paper reviews the overall research and development of thermal metametraials in terms of thermal conduction, convection and radiation in 2018. We summarize in particular seven research topics, which are (1) efficient manipulation of thermal conduction by using structured surfaces, (2) theoretical establishment and application exploration of inhomogeneous thermal structure, (3) thermal cloak with thermal near-zero-index-materials, (4) establishment of transformation thermal convection theory, (5) abnormal phenomena of thermal convection, (6) thermal radiation:energy collection from the sun and the outer space, and (7) application design and integration development of thermal metamaterials. All these topics are related not only to fundamental research but also to application development.

Transformation of energy structure is a serious problem for countries all around the world. China is rich in renewable energy but penetration of high proportion of renewable energy poses a major challenge to the safe operation of power grid. Energy storage, as an effective way to coordinate new energy sources, may breakthe characteristics of "ready-to-use" in electricity and achieveefficient utilization of energy. In terms of large-scale energy storage, compressed air energy storage has gradually become a research hotspot because of its clean and low cost characteristics. In 2018, compressed air energy storage stepped forward to demonstration project and commercialization. This paper reviews the hot topics in the field of compressed air energy storage in 2018, and summarizes and analyzes the outstanding advances in such technologies as multi-energy complementarity, liquefied compressed air, salt cavern gas storage, cyclic temperature control and synergistic hydroelectric power generation.

In 2018,many exciting breakthroughs were achieved in the clean energy field,e.g., theliquid sunshine concept, photovoltaic effect in the absence of a p-n junction, and commercialization of Li-sulfur battery. In this paper, we introduce the concept of liquid sunshine, review the representative hotspots in fuel cell, lithium battery and biomass energy, and prospect the future development of clean energy.

This paper summarizes the important research and engineering progress of nuclear energy science and technology in 2018, focusing on the latest developments in Generation IV reactors, construction of nuclear power plants, and decommissioning of nuclear facilities. The state quo shows that nuclear energy is still an important part of the global energy structure. With the development of new generation of nuclear power facilities and the deployment of nuclear decommissioning, this situation is expected to be further ensured.

This article samples the hot research topics in geothermal exploitation in 2018. With the rapid development of geothermal power generation in countries all over the world, China is facing great opportunities and challenges. Geothermal exploration is gradually refined, geothermal development is gradually intensified, and geothermal utilization is gradually integrated. Meanwhile, geothermy has become a real hot spot in geological field and relevant technologies and norms are constantly improved, for example, closed underground heat transfer technology, geothermal evaluation technology of balance in exploitation and reinjection, geothermal-solar energy and other mixed energy development and utilization. In theories, the mechanism between geothermal water exploitation and the occurrence of microseisms is further understood, and the theory of hot dry rock development becomes more thorough. In addition, innovative ideas in ecological environment and earth science around geothermal fluid are also presented.

2018 was the tenth year for the development of perovskite solar cells. A series of achievements in efficiency, device stability, module preparation, and flexible semi-transparent devices are summarized in this article. Several representative achievements in perovskite solar cells are introduced as well.

This article samples hot research topics in information technology in 2018, including:the new breakthrough generative adversarial network (GAN) in AI deep learning, the firstion trap quantum computer into market, Google's duplex virtual assistant that can communicate with customer with real human voice, commercial desktop 3D metal printer, crypto-anchor and blockchain which help detect fraudulent in supply chain, TCGA completion, and genome-based health prediction becoming mainstream.

Artificial intelligence is being widely used in many fields. In 2018, nearly all sub-disciplines of artificial intelligence gained a series of progress. This paper selects the sub-disciplines such as human-machine fusion intelligence, swarm intelligence, cognitive computing, affective computing, intelligent robot, smart city, and medical treatment with artificial intelligence, so as to review the hot topics of artificial intelligence in 2018.

In 2018, unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) have made a series of progress in terms of technology, products, applications, supervision and others, especially in UAS cluster flight, manned UAS and flying vehicle, UAS and 5G integration, variant UAS, new energy UAS, manned aerial vehicle unmanned, large UAS integration into national airspace, UAS air traffic management system (UTM), UAS safety supervision regulations and policies, etc. These hot spots deserve to be reviewed in this article.

Brain computer interface (BCI) provides a direct communication channel between human brain and external devices, which is distinctive in that it does not depend on peripheral nerves or muscles. The BCI field has grown dramatically in the recent years, with research growing and expanding in the breadth of its applications. This article reviews the important research advances of BCI in 2018, mainly focusing on system applications and key technologies. New trends towards more intelligent and mobile BCIs as well as ethical risks are discussed.

In 2018, medical robots made consistent progress at various clinical fields from researches to applications. Surgical robot application fields and the industry were consistently expanded. More and more prototypes of rehabilitation robots emerged and entered into clinical trials. Key technologies for nursing robots received much attention. Introduction of artificial intelligence and big data technologies into medical robots improved the intelligent medical decision-making and the safety of robot motion. Collaboration among surgeon, robot and environment in medical procedure was dramatically improved. Medical robot has been regarded as one of representative sub-field in the advanced medical device industry.

The year of 2018 has witnessed a series of construction projects and technological progresses achieved by China in tunneling and underground engineering. This paper introduces the technical progress in shield construction, full-face TBM, new-type tunnel construction as well as the industry's development direction towards new-type and intelligence, so as to reflect the state-of-the-art and the development trend of the industry.

The study on livable city study has continuously gained extensive attention of international and domestic academic circles. In 2018 to respond to the national strategies of ecological civilization and harmonious and livable city construction, China carried out allround practical exploration of livable cities surrounding ecological livable city construction. This paper reviews the progress achieved in various aspects such as academic discussions and summits, livable city evaluation and ranking, exploration on factors of livability, and livable city practice. The paper also points out that the development of livable city is towards a more practice-oriented, concrete and detailed direction.

Research on built heritage protection and inheritance still received attention in 2018. The researches on built environment, urban planning and landscape in 2018 are summarized in this article. Also reviewed are the researches on built heritage protection and inheritance, urban renewal, new district planning, sustainable urban planning, territorial spatial planning, urban-rural planning and smart city in big data era It is hoped that this article can give valuable reference for understanding the advances of built environment in 2018 and provide suggestion for further research.

Science and technology of 2018 has witnessed brilliant innovative progress, countless breakthrough applications, and refresh humanized service. However, as human activities, scientific research and development may have omissions and misconduct, therefore, it is necessary to expose and question any of them for the better development of science and technology through reflection and prevention. This article selects 10 scientific and technological events with high social concern and considerable controversy or negative impact in 2018, with a view to triggering further summarization and reflection.