Despite sounding like something out of pulpy '50s sci-fi, 'space lasers' are real – and astrophysicists have now spotted the brightest and most distant one yet. This ' gigamaser ' is blasting out of a gigantic galactic collision some 8 billion light-years away, where compressed gas is stimulating hydroxyl molecules to emit intense radio waves at the same wavelength. The record-breaking 'ginormous microwave laser' was discovered by the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, with a bit of