Twisted magnetic fields around fast radio burst may hold alien communication.

An international team of researchers has discovered an extreme field reversal around the persistently active repeating fast radio burst (FRB) known as FRB 20190520B. The study, based on observational efforts across three continents, was published in Science on May 11. The reversal could result from propagation through a turbulent, magnetized screen of plasma located between 10-5 to 100 parsecs of the FRB source. Understanding drastic changes in the magnetized environment around the FRB is an important step toward understanding the origin of such cosmic explosions.