AT LAST we’ve got a handle on how gamma-ray bursts are produced. The colossal outpourings of energy are triggered by twisted magnetic fields of unprecedented intensity, delegates heard last week at the American Astronomical Society’s meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.
Although GRBs are the most powerful explosions known in the universe since the big bang, they have kept astronomers guessing about their origins since their discovery about 30 years ago. In the last few years gamma-ray satellite missions have revealed that at least one class of GRB, those lasting longer than 2 seconds, come from sources as far away as the…
