Researchers using the 36-dish ASKAP telescope have made a discovery that challenges the hypothesis around how “fast radio bursts” form. Fast radio bursts are intense bursts of radio emission that can last just milliseconds and were only first detected in 2007. The exact processes that cause them have long been shrouded in mystery. Traditionally, they have only been recorded in colliding galaxies, but now, an Australian-based team have detected them in a much calmer galactic environment. In this episode, Curtin University’s Marcin Glowacki, who led the study, and Dr Karen Lee-Waddell, explain the significance of the findings.