A team of scientists claim to have discovered a new color that no human has seen before, the BBC reported on Saturday. The research follows an experiment in which researchers in the United States had laser pulses shot in their eyes.
By stimulating specific cells in the retina, participants claim to have witnessed a green blue color that scientists have called “Olo”, but some experts have said that the existence of a new color is “open to discussion.”
The findings, published in the journal Science Advances on Friday, have been described by the study co -author, Professor Ren Ng of the University of California, as “remarkable.” He and his colleagues believe that the results could potentially investigate color blindness.
Professor NG, who was one of the five people to participate in the experiment, said the BBC Radio 4 program on Saturday that Olo was “more saturated than any color he can see in the real world.” “Let’s say you’re going throughout your life and you see only pink, Baby pink, a pastel pink,” he said. “And then, one day you go to the office and someone wears a shirt, and it is the most intense baby pink you have ever seen, and they say it is a new color and we call it red.”
During the team’s experiment, the researchers shone a laser beam in the student of an eye of each participant. There were five participants in the study, four men and one woman, who had normal color vision. Three of the participants, including the teacher, were co -authors of the research work, according to BBC.
According to research work, participants sought a device called OZ consisting of mirrors, lasers and optical devices. The team was previously designed by some of the researchers involved: a team of scientists from UC Berkeley and the University of Washington, and was updated for use in this study.
The retina is a layer of light sensitive fabric in the back of the eye responsible for receiving and processing visual information. It turns light into electrical signals, which are then transmitted to the brain through the optic nerve, which allows us to see.
The retina includes cone cells, which are cells responsible for perceiving color. There are three types of cone cells in the eyes: S, L and M, and each one is sensitive to different wavelengths of blue, red and green, respectively.
According to the research document, in the normal vision, “any light that stimulates a cone cell M must also stimulate its l and/or s neighboring cones”, because their function overlaps with them.
However, in the study, BBC cited the document saying that the laser only stimulated the cones M, “what in principle would send a color signal to the brain that never occurs in natural vision.” This means that the color color could not be seen with a person in the real world without the help of a specific stimulation. To verify the color observed during the experiment, each participant adjusted a controllable color sphere until it matches OLO.
Posted in Dawn, April 20, 2025
