Lighting up earthquakes: How scientists watched ruptures evolve in milliseconds

Scientists have built a lab model that visually tracks how microscopic contact points between fault surfaces evolve during earthquake cycles, revealing the hidden mechanics behind both the slow buildup of tectonic stress and the rapid ruptures that cause earthquakes. This breakthrough uncovers a key physical variable long used in models but never fully understood: the real contact area. With LED lighting and transparent materials, researchers watched ruptures unfold in milliseconds and verified their findings with simulations, potentially opening the door to future real-time earthquake prediction systems based on measurable physical signals like electric conductivity.