  Lasting anywhere from a few milliseconds to several minutes, GRBs shine
hundreds of times brighter than a typical supernova, making them briefly the
brightest source of cosmic gamma-ray photons in the observable Universe. This
thesis focuses on 3 different aspects of GRBs: (1) The radiative mechanism of
GRBs and their afterglows, i.e. the occurrence of thermal emission and the
physical parameters we can determine through this emission. (2) Their host
galaxies, using results from observations of GRB 121024A as a case study. (3)
How they can be used to answer some of the larger astrophysical questions, more
specifically in this case, to study interstellar dust and grey extinction.
