  Present knowledge indicates that gamma-ray bursts are linked with massive
stars. They will become invaluable probes of the early universe and galaxy
formation. In the future, it will be possible to use gamma-ray bursts for two
purposes: 1) to probe the history of massive star formation in the Universe by
the rate of occurence of gamma-ray bursts, and 2) for the study of galaxy
evolution at all lookback times by determining the nature of the galaxy hosts.
Because gamma-rays are not attenuated by intervening dust and gas, the
selection of the cosmic sites of massive star formation by this method is less
affected by the biases associated with optical-uv surveys (e.g. UV-dropout
techniques). Infrared and sub-millimeter follow up studies of the hosts of
gamma-ray bursts may: 1) reveal a putative population of reddened ($R-K \geq
4$) galaxies at high redshifts, and 2) detect very massive stars (population
III) formed at $z \geq$ 5.
