A New Color Called "Olo" Discovered That the Human Eye Cannot See

What if there was a color you'd never seen before, not because it's rare, but because it's physically impossible to perceive under normal conditions? This question, worthy of science fiction, now has an answer. A team of scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, has made a fascinating discovery: the existence of a new color, dubbed "olo," that lies outside the natural human visual spectrum. The most incredible thing is that, although it cannot be seen with the naked eye, five of the researchers have already managed to perceive it through an innovative experimental method, opening a new frontier in our understanding of vision.

Those who have had the privilege of seeing "olo" describe it as a hypersaturated blue-green hue, a shade unprecedented in human experience. According to the study, published by National Geographic, the color is so pure that, in order to compare it to a color in the known spectrum, scientists had to "desaturated" it by adding white light. This fact is unequivocal proof that "olo" lies beyond the limits of our usual chromatic range.

The key to perceiving this impossible color lies not in the light itself, but in how our eye's response is manipulated. The Berkeley team developed a method that uses laser technology to selectively and isolatedly stimulate the retina's "M" cone cells, those that respond to medium (green) wavelengths. In nature, light never activates just one type of cone without also activating the others. By achieving this isolated activation through a carefully controlled "optical electroshock," the scientists induced a color perception that the human brain had never before processed.

This discovery is much more than a mere curiosity. It introduces a new approach to the study of visual perception known as "spatial metamerism," which focuses not on the composition of light, but on its spatial distribution on the retina. The discovery of "olo" demonstrates that our experience of color is not an absolute reflection of the outside world, but rather a construction of our brain based on the signals it receives from our eyes.

The study opens an exciting door to future research and technologies that could, one day, allow us to expand our sensory capabilities. It leaves us with an intriguing question: if "olo" exists, what other invisible realities surround us, waiting for us to develop the tools to perceive them?