The color has been described as ‘dazzling’ by one of the select few who were lucky enough to witness it
Across the immense sweep of human history—spanning eons and empires, whispers of stone tools to the clangor of machines—only five souls have gazed upon a color that may have slumbered in the fabric of reality since time’s first breath.
Of these rare witnesses, three were among the architects of the discovery itself—researchers immersed in the experiment’s luminous intricacies. The remaining two were academic compatriots from the University of Washington in Seattle, drawn into the marvel by scholarly proximity.
To coax this elusive hue into existence, scientists had to forge a wholly novel chromatic conjuration—a precision-engineered method of sight-crafting they dubbed a ‘technicolor technique.’ Central to this feat was a laser christened Oz, not merely for flair but for function. To understand its necessity, we must peer briefly into the organic machinery behind human vision.
The human retina is outfitted with a trinity of cone cells—delicate photonic sentinels each attuned to a distinct wavelength spectrum. The S cones, ever vigilant to the shorter wavelengths, transduce the essence of blue. M cones, resonating with medium wavelengths, bring green into our perception. And the L cones, longest in reach, deliver the sanguine signature of red.
Together, they form the basis of everything we’ve ever seen—but through Oz, that foundational trio was pushed to an entirely new frontier.
Five people have been witnessed a ‘new’ color known as ‘olo’ (Getty stock)
The brain performs a luminous ballet, weaving signals from all three cone types—S, M, and L—into the rich chromatic mosaic we call full-color vision.
Yet these cones don’t operate in solitary confinement. Their sensitivity spectra overlap, creating a tangled web of responses. So when light dances upon the M cones, its wavelength often nudges the S or L cones into action too, creating a chromatic chorus rather than a solo performance.
Professor Ren Ng, a mind behind this audacious chromatic endeavor and a figure in electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, elucidated to Scientific American: “There exists no natural wavelength capable of thrilling just the M cones alone. If M cones flare to life, it’s inevitable that one or both of their spectral siblings join the rapture.”
He explained that the name Oz is no mere accident. It harks back to the fabled journey to the Emerald City, a mythical place where color—specifically green—radiates with an almost hallucinatory intensity.
Ng, one among only five individuals who have glimpsed this new hue, dubbed it olo. He described it as a “blue-green of unparalleled saturation”—a color so vivid and crystalline that even teal, its closest earthly cousin, feels dull by comparison.
What color do you imagine when you think of something beyond nature’s palette?
Teal, depicted here as an aerial view of a coral reef, is the closest color to ‘olo’ (Getty stock)
A spectral alchemy dubbed Oz unfurls in this revelatory manuscript, where an unorthodox visual doctrine is proposed: orchestrating color perception not through conventional optics, but by commandeering the eye’s photoreceptive architecture—directed illumination choreographed cone-by-cone.
The crux? By eschewing the biologically imposed bottlenecks of cone sensitivity curves—particularly the trichromatic matrix—researchers envisioned a chromatic renaissance. Their ambition: stimulate only M-type cones, mid-wavelength sentinels of the visual field, in an isolated ballet. What followed was the unveiling of a hue estranged from natural taxonomy—an electrifying blue-green, aglow with a saturation alien to the human ocular library.
Through empirical rites involving calibrated color alignment by test participants, this spectral apparition was validated: the color, untethered from nature’s palette, asserted its presence with surreal vivacity.
Further probing peeled back another dimension—rendering this phenomenon not just in still frames but in fluid cinematic motion. Participants, their eyes tracing image and movement alike, bore witness to the ephemeral Oz hues. The underpinning apparatus? A prototype dispensing microscopic laser quanta, each photon a guided emissary aimed at meticulously mapped cones, dancing in sync with the micro-jitters of gaze.
What emerges is not merely a technological curiosity but a portent: a demonstrative leap toward sovereign control over retinal signal orchestration, scaling from single-cell precision to sweeping retinal populations. An ocular symphony conducted with photonic scalpel and spectral imagination.
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image