page_title: 2018 in science
section_title: June
hierarchical_section_title: 2018 in science / Events / June
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: En minigris (Sus scrofa). Kolmårdens djurpark. Deutsch: Ein Minischwein (Sus scrofa). Kolmårdens djurpark, Schweden. English: A miniature pig (Sus scrofa). Kolmårdens djurpark, Sweden.
context_page_description: A number of significant scientific events occurred in 2018.
context_section_description: 1 June – NASA scientists detect signs of a dust storm on the planet Mars which may affect the survivability of the solar-powered Opportunity rover since the dust may block the sunlight (see image)  needed to operate; as of 12 June, the storm spanned an area about the size of North America and Russia combined (about a quarter of the planet); as of 13 June, Opportunity was reported to be experiencing serious communication problem(s) due to the dust storm; a NASA teleconference about the dust storm was presented on 13 June 2018 at 01:30 pm/et/usa and is available for replay. On 20 June, NASA reported that the dust storm had grown to completely cover the entire planet.
  4 June – Direct coupling of the Higgs boson with the top quark is observed for the first time by the ATLAS experiment and the CMS experiment at CERN.
  5 June – Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine synthesise the first artificial human prion.
  6 June
  Footprints in the Yangtze Gorges area of South China, dating back 546 million years, are reported to be the earliest known record of an animal with legs.
  The spacecraft Dawn assumes a final (and much closer) orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres: as close as 35 km (22 mi) and as far away as 4,000 km (2,500 mi) (see images).
  7 June – NASA announces that the Curiosity rover has detected a cyclical seasonal variation in atmospheric methane (see image) on the planet Mars, as well as the presence of kerogen and other complex organic compounds.
  8 June – The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory unveils Summit as the world's most powerful supercomputer, with a peak performance of 200,000 trillion calculations per second, or 200 petaflops.
  11 June – KATRIN, an experiment designed to measure the absolute mass of neutrinos, starts data-taking.
  14–15 June – The Japanese Hayabusa2 probe returns images of the asteroid 162173 Ryugu from a distance of 650–700 km. It enters orbit on 27 June.
  16 June – Astronomers detect AT2018cow (ATLAS name: ATLAS18qqn), a powerful astronomical explosion, 10-100 times brighter than a normal supernova, that may be a cataclysmic variable star (CV), gamma-ray burst (GRB), gravitational wave (GW), supernova (SN) or something else. By 22 June 2018, this astronomical event had generated a significant interest among astronomers throughout the world, and may be, as of 22 June 2018, considered a supernova, tentatively named Supernova 2018cow (SN 2018cow). However, the true identity of AT2018cow remains unclear, according to astronomers.
  18 June – MIT publishes details of "VoxelMorph", a new machine-learning algorithm, which is over 1,000 times faster at registering brain scans and other 3-D images.
  20 June – Scientists at the University of Edinburgh report that gene-edited pigs have been made resistant to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, one of the world's most costly animal diseases.
  21 June – The US National Science and Technology Council warns that America is unprepared for an asteroid impact event, and has developed and released the "National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy Action Plan" to better prepare.
  26 June – Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, develop synthetic T cells that mimic the form and function of real human versions.
  27 June
  Astronomers report that ʻOumuamua, an object from interstellar space passing through the solar system, is a mildly active comet, and not an asteroid, as previously thought. This was determined by measuring a non-gravitational boost to ʻOumuamua's acceleration, consistent with comet outgassing. (image) (animation)
  Astronomers report the detection of complex macromolecular organics on Enceladus, moon of the planet Saturn.
caption: 20 June: Gene-edited pigs are made resistant to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, one of the world's most costly animal diseases.[198]
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