Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) exhibit a bimodal duration distribution, with short and long bursts separated by about 2 seconds. Long GRBs are associated with massive stars and Type Ic core-collapse supernovae, while short GRBs are thought to originate from compact object binary mergers (neutron star-neutron star or neutron star-black hole). The discovery of short GRB afterglows in 2005 provided insights into their energy scale, environments, and cosmological origin. This review summarizes observations of short GRB afterglows and host galaxies over the past decade, focusing on the progenitors, energy scale, collimation, and circumburst environments. The evidence points to compact object binary progenitors, but some questions remain. Short GRBs can also serve as electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources from Advanced LIGO/Virgo experiments.Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) exhibit a bimodal duration distribution, with short and long bursts separated by about 2 seconds. Long GRBs are associated with massive stars and Type Ic core-collapse supernovae, while short GRBs are thought to originate from compact object binary mergers (neutron star-neutron star or neutron star-black hole). The discovery of short GRB afterglows in 2005 provided insights into their energy scale, environments, and cosmological origin. This review summarizes observations of short GRB afterglows and host galaxies over the past decade, focusing on the progenitors, energy scale, collimation, and circumburst environments. The evidence points to compact object binary progenitors, but some questions remain. Short GRBs can also serve as electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources from Advanced LIGO/Virgo experiments.