New Color Never Before Seen by the Human Eye Discovered by Scientists, Study Claims

Scientists conducting targeted retinal stimulation claim to have discovered a new color.

In a study published in Science Advances on April 18, a group of five researchers stimulated retina cells in participants’ eyes, who, afterwards, claimed to have seen a color no human has seen before. The color, which scientists call “olo,” is something of an extremely saturated blue-green.

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The study examined the vision of five participants — four male, one female — as well as three of the researchers themselves, all of whom have normal color vision.

University of California Professor Ren Ng told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that olo is “more saturated than any color that you can see in the real world.” He then explained how a new color could even come to be perceived.

“Let’s say you go around your whole life and you see only pink, baby pink, a pastel pink,” he said. “And then one day you go to the office and someone’s wearing a shirt, and it’s the most intense baby pink you’ve ever seen, and they say it’s a new color and we call it ‘red.'”

Researchers directed a laser beam into one eye of each participant, then looked into a contraption called Oz — a device with mirrors, lasers and other optical devices.

Normal vision involves all three cone cells in the retina — S, L, and M, which are respectively sensitive to blue, red and green — and the three types’ functions overlap. However, the laser only stimulated the M cone cells in the retina, which essentially allowed the human eye to perceive a color “that never occurs in natural vision,” the study read.

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Researchers on the study say the findings could benefit further research about color blindness.

Some scientists contest the findings of this study, however. While vision scientist Professor John Barbur claims the ability to isolate the stimulation of one kind of cone cell is a “technological feat,” the discovery of a new color is debatable based on variations between participants, BBC reported.

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