There’s a new colour 'olo', and you have never seen it
TIL Creatives
Lab experiment where researchers induced the new colour 'Olo' using laser stimulation of the eye
Synopsis
Scientists at UC Berkeley have discovered a new color, 'olo,' through precise laser stimulation of cone cells in the eye. This unprecedented blue-green hue cannot be reproduced by conventional means and exists solely through artificial neural stimulation. The discovery enhances our understanding of visual processing, though 'olo' remains confined to laboratory settings.
By Global Desk
Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered a new colour which has never been seen before under natural conditions. The finding was made using a precise method that stimulates individual cone cells in the human eye using laser technology.
Normally, people perceive colours through the combined input of three types of cone cells in the retina, those sensitive to short (blue), medium (green), and long (red) wavelengths of light. Natural light or digital displays activate more than one cone type at a time, which limits the colours that can be seen.
The new colour ‘olo’ appears to observers as a deep, saturated blue-green, but it is not possible to reproduce it using normal means such as paints, screens, or coloured lights. It exists purely as a result of artificial neural stimulation and is experienced only under laboratory conditions.
"We predicted from the beginning that it would look like an unprecedented colour signal but we didn't know what the brain would do with it. It was jaw-dropping. It's incredibly saturated," said Ren Ng, an electrical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley.
This breakthrough adds to the understanding of how the brain processes visual information and how colour perception is not fixed.
"There is no way to convey that colour in an article or on a monitor. The whole point is that this is not the colour we see, it's just not. The colour we see is a version of it, but it absolutely pales by comparison with the experience of olo," said Austin Roorda, a vision scientist associated with the team.
The method used to see ‘olo’ is currently confined to scientific labs; this discovery opens the door to further exploration of human perception and artificial vision.
"We're not going to see olo on any smartphone displays or any TVs anytime soon. And this is very, very far beyond VR headset technology,” said Austin Roorda.
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The researchers are calling the new colour 'olo', according to the findings published in Science Advances on Friday (April 18).Normally, people perceive colours through the combined input of three types of cone cells in the retina, those sensitive to short (blue), medium (green), and long (red) wavelengths of light. Natural light or digital displays activate more than one cone type at a time, which limits the colours that can be seen.
The new colour ‘olo’ appears to observers as a deep, saturated blue-green, but it is not possible to reproduce it using normal means such as paints, screens, or coloured lights. It exists purely as a result of artificial neural stimulation and is experienced only under laboratory conditions.
"We predicted from the beginning that it would look like an unprecedented colour signal but we didn't know what the brain would do with it. It was jaw-dropping. It's incredibly saturated," said Ren Ng, an electrical engineer at the University of California, Berkeley.
This breakthrough adds to the understanding of how the brain processes visual information and how colour perception is not fixed.
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"There is no way to convey that colour in an article or on a monitor. The whole point is that this is not the colour we see, it's just not. The colour we see is a version of it, but it absolutely pales by comparison with the experience of olo," said Austin Roorda, a vision scientist associated with the team.
The method used to see ‘olo’ is currently confined to scientific labs; this discovery opens the door to further exploration of human perception and artificial vision.
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"We're not going to see olo on any smartphone displays or any TVs anytime soon. And this is very, very far beyond VR headset technology,” said Austin Roorda.
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