California: In a discovery that feels almost otherworldly, scientists have introduced ‘Olo’ -a color no human eye had ever witnessed until now.
Only five individuals have witnessed this extraordinary color, describing it as a highly saturated shade similar to peacock blue or teal but far more intense than anything ever experienced in natural vision.
The breakthrough came after scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Washington School of Medicine developed a way to push human vision beyond its natural boundaries.
Using a technique involving laser pulses fired directly into the retina, they were able to stimulate the M cones, the light-sensitive cells in the eye normally responsible for detecting green wavelengths in a way never before achieved.
Why Humans Have Never Seen ‘Olo’
Under normal conditions, the human eye perceives color through three types of cone cells that react to short (blue), medium (green), and long (red) wavelengths of light.
However, no naturally occurring light can stimulate only the M cones- the green-sensitive ones without simultaneously activating the others.
By precisely targeting these cones with microbursts of laser light, scientists managed to isolate the M cone response and unlock a perception never accessible through natural vision.
Human Eyes See New Color “Olo” for the First Time
A new laser-based technology called Oz allows humans to perceive a color never seen in nature—an ultra-saturated blue-green dubbed olo.
By precisely stimulating specific photoreceptor cones in the retina, researchers were able… pic.twitter.com/F6D9tNFEHm
— Neuroscience News (@NeuroscienceNew) April 23, 2025
A Color That Defies Description
Although the researchers have shared an image of a turquoise square to hint at the appearance of olo, they caution that no photograph, monitor, or printed page can truly capture its intensity.
“There is no way to convey that color in an article or on a monitor, The whole point is that this is not the color we see; it’s just not. The color we see is a version of it, but it pales by comparison with the experience of olo,” explained Austin Roorda, a vision scientist at UC Berkeley.
The visual experience of olo is described as being “off-the-charts“ in saturation something that simply doesn’t exist within the normal boundaries of human sight.
Despite the excitement surrounding the discovery, scientists are quick to point out that Olo will not be appearing on smartphone screens, television displays, or virtual reality headsets anytime soon.
Current display technologies, limited by the natural properties of light and human biology, are incapable of reproducing it.
