Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have made a groundbreaking discovery by inducing humans to see a color previously unseen by humanity. The team used a technique called Oz, which stimulates individual cone cells in the retina using safe microdoses of laser light.
The human eye contains three types of cone cells that correspond to different wavelengths of light. However, due to overlap between these cells, there are theoretically colors that humans can never truly see. The UC Berkeley researchers found a way around this limitation by stimulating individual cone cells.
They tested the Oz system on five human volunteers with normal vision and reported seeing a blue-green color of “unprecedented saturation.” This new color has been coined as “olo.” To confirm its existence, the researchers conducted color matching tests, which showed that olo exists outside the natural boundaries of human color vision.
The Oz system differs from previous experiments in that it stimulates thousands of cone cells at once. The researchers believe this technology holds promise for various applications, including studying retinal disease and potentially restoring color vision to people with color blindness.
While the discovery is exciting, one researcher hopes to see olo and otherworldly colors firsthand. Hannah Doyle, a co-lead researcher, expressed enthusiasm for exploring the technology’s potential uses, including simulating cone loss in healthy subjects. The team is optimistic about the platform’s ability to conduct new experiments and potentially unlock new insights into human vision.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/scientists-learned-how-to-trick-our-eyes-into-seeing-an-entirely-new-color-2000591389