Imagine waking up one morning with the ability to perceive a color that no human eye has ever witnessed before. Not just a new shade, but a completely original color — something outside the rainbow, beyond the limits of your eyes. Sounds like sci-fi, right? Scientists have just pulled off a mind-blowing experiment that let people perceive a brand-new color. They’ve called it “Olo.”
What is ‘Olo’?
‘Olo’ isn’t something you’ll find in a crayon box or on your phone screen. It’s not purple, teal, or magenta. It’s a totally fresh experience, a new sensation triggered deep inside the eye by precision laser tech.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, developed a method to directly stimulate individual cones in the retina — specifically the ones that normally help us see green. But instead of activating multiple types of cones like natural light does, they precisely zapped just one kind. That hacked signal created a completely new color experience. And that’s what they’re calling Olo.
How They Did It (Without Breaking Eyes)
The team first had to map each person’s retina, identifying exactly where their green-sensitive cones were. Then, using ultra-precise lasers, they sent custom light pulses to those specific cones while avoiding the others. The result? The brain received a signal it had never seen before. No L-cones, no S-cones, just M-cones — and that unusual signal made the brain “invent” a new color to make sense of it.
Why You Can’t See It on Your Screen
Here’s the wild part — no display can show you Olo. Your monitor, phone, or VR headset can only mix red, green, and blue. But Olo doesn’t exist in that world. It’s not a mix. It’s outside the triangle of visible screen colors. You could be staring at pixels all day, and you’d still never see it.
To experience Olo, you’d need the same laser setup, the eye-mapping process, and a team of researchers guiding you through it. For now, it’s like a private show for your brain that tech hasn’t figured out how to share.
Why This Matters
This isn’t just a flashy science stunt. It opens doors to a deeper understanding of how human vision works — and how flexible our perception really is. This is not an ordinary science experiment; it shows the extent of our visual and cognitive abilities. Future therapies for color blindness and other eye conditions may result from this discovery.
Additionally, it can introduce fresh concepts in this field of design, art, and technology. It is not just a matter of seeing a new color, but it is the beginning of changing the way we look at the world. It is possible that in the future we will be able to make such screens that can show those colors that were impossible for us till today.
And you will be surprised to know that some animals can already see colors that humans cannot. For example, the mantis shrimp—a small sea creature—has 16 types of photoreceptors in its eyes (while humans have only 3), due to which they can see invisible colors like ultraviolet. That means ‘Olo’ can be a new beginning for humans, but nature is already doing this miracle. Birds and butterflies also see into the UV spectrum. So in a way, humans are just beginning to catch up. Olo might be our first baby step into a much broader spectrum of perception that nature’s already been exploring for ages.
Quick Answers About Olo:
Q: What is Olo colour?
Olo is a newly discovered colour, created by stimulating specific photoreceptor cells in the human eye. It’s not visible through standard light or screen technology.
Q: Can I see Olo?
Not yet. Olo cannot be seen on any digital device. It was created through lab-based retinal stimulation, not by showing it as light.
Q: Who discovered Olo colour?
Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, made the discovery using a technique called Oz stimulation.
Q: Why is Olo important?
Olo challenges our understanding of colour perception and opens the door to new technologies in vision science and augmented reality.