One topic that we hadn't yet covered that I really wanted Jared to learn about is Gamma-Ray Bursts. These are the most energetic events in the Universe (after the Big Bang) and remained a mystery until the 1990s when NASA launched the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory with the intent purpose of investigating these intense, brief, explosive events. Today, the commonly held theories regarding the origin of these bursts is that they are the birth cries of black holes, either via the collapse of a very massive star (known as a 'hypernova') or via the coalescence of two neutron stars. This latter has implications for the study of elusive gravitational waves.