Huge GRB Detected

Scientists have recently detected an extremely powerful gamma-ray burst, or GRB, coming from the early days of the universe.

Actually, "early days" is a slippery phrase. GRBs mark the explosion of stars when the universe was young. This particular one occurred 12.8 billion years ago, well before Earth even existed. No Earth, no days, early or otherwise, but the point is this GRB probably came from one of the first generation of stars.

Such titanic explosions thankfully do not occur in the current universe. The earliest stars were huge and short'lived. A similar explosion in the Milky Way today would seriously threaten life on Earth.