Detecting and characterizing the variety of fast radio bursts

Fast radio bursts originate far outside our Milky Way and were only recently discovered. It is still a mystery how the bursts are produced, but it is clear that some sources repeat while others apparently do not. I will explain how we are gathering a large sample of those flashes, each lasting only a fraction of a second, by automatically combing through petabytes of radio telescope data every day. Then, I will explain how we are trying to understand the variety of fast radio bursts by using effects that are imparted on the signals as they travel toward us through the interstellar and intergalactic media.