Astronomers in South Africa have just identified the most distant, brightest cosmic laser ever recorded, shining from over eight billion light years away. This powerful radio signal, HATLAS J142935.3–002836, comes from a violent galaxy merger. It is so distant that we are seeing it as it was when the universe was less than half its current age. It is both the most distant and luminous known signal. The source is a hydroxyl megamaser—an intense burst of radio emission produced when two galaxies