Black mirror, eat your heart. The researchers obviously just figured out how to get people to see a completely new human color.
UC Berkeley scientists conducted the study, published Friday in scientific advances. The team used a technique called Oz to lure human volunteers to see colors beyond the “natural human range.” The authors say OZ can allow scientists to conduct experiments that were previously unsuccessful.
Our retina contains certain photoreceptor cells called cones that allow us to see the color. There are three types of cone corresponding to light of different wavelengths: short wavelength (S cone), medium wavelength (M cone cone and long wavelength (L) cone.
Often, when we try to reproduce the color in front of someone’s eyes, we do this by manipulating the spectrum seen by the retinal cone. However, because some of our cones (especially M cones) overlap in how they respond to certain wavelengths, they are theoretically colorful and our eyes can never really see it. UC Berkeley researchers based on their earlier work on cones, he said they have found a way to limit this limitation.
Instead of trying to mix and match different light to produce colors, their OZ system stimulates individual cones with safe microdosage laser light. By applying these doses in the correct spatial pattern, only activate the M cone of people (naturally possible), they have figured out how to generate perception of completely new colors.
They tested the OZ system on five human volunteers with normal vision. Once the M-only Cone was activated, the volunteers reported seeing a “unprecedented saturation” of the blue-green. Researchers have created this new color “Olo”.
To confirm that Olo is a truly new color, the researchers also asked volunteers to perform color matching tests. These tests require people to adjust the color to match one of the three primary colors (red, green, blue). Volunteers can only match by rejecting Olo's saturation, which suggests that it exists outside the natural boundaries of our color vision.
Scientists were able to stimulate some cones the previous time, but the OZ system showed that it is possible to stimulate thousands of cones at a time. Researchers hope that the Wizard of Oz will have various potential uses.
“Suggesting that Olo is absolutely cool, but we’re all looking for the future to understand how the technology itself is used,” co-researcher Hannah Doyle, a fourth-year student with a PhD in electrical engineering at UC Berkeley, told Gizmodo. “In fact, I’m now using the same precise system for projects that simulate cone loss, such as what happens in retinal diseases that occur in healthy subjects.”
Other members of the research team are investigating whether it is possible to stimulate the cones of the retina and expand the brain so that a person can experience a fourth type of cone. The same approach may also allow people to experience the corresponding missing color, such as the one with color blindness, to experience the corresponding missing color, the researchers speculate.
“Essentially, we felt it was a platform that could be used, with a series of new experiments,” Doyle said.
All of this sounds great. But personally, I hope I can see Olo and otherworldly colors for myself one day.
