Imagine walking the Earth for hundreds of thousands of years and believing you've seen it all—well, think again! A daring team of U.S. scientists claims to have uncovered a color that humans have never experienced before.

In a groundbreaking experiment, researchers fired laser pulses directly into their eyes, stimulating individual retinal cells and pushing their color perception beyond the ordinary. What did they see? Five subjects who participated in the experiment described the color as blue-green, a label they insist only scratches the surface of this remarkable hue.

Ren Ng, an electrical engineer from the University of California, Berkeley, exclaimed, "It was jaw-dropping. It’s incredibly saturated!" The team shared a visual representation in the form of a turquoise square, but they emphasized that the true experience of this color, named 'olo', can only be achieved through their laser manipulation technique.

Austin Roorda, a vision scientist on the team, stated, "There is no way to convey that colour in an article or on a monitor. The color we see is a version of olo, but it absolutely pales by comparison with the experience of olo." This phenomenon challenges our traditional understanding of color perception, pushing the boundaries of what we thought was possible.

So, how does this all work? Humans perceive color through light that activates color-sensitive cells known as cones in the retina. There are three types: long (L), medium (M), and short (S) wavelength cones. Natural light stimulates these cones in various ways, resulting in the colors we see. However, the study aimed to isolate the M cones, which can’t be exclusively activated in the natural world.

The researchers meticulously mapped a participant's retina to locate M cones and then used a laser to stimulate these cells. The outcome was a visual area about twice the size of a full moon—an unprecedented color experience caused by the exclusive activation of M cones, leading to the creation of olo. The name 'olo' is derived from the binary code 010, signifying the activation of only M cones.

However, not everyone is convinced. John Barbur, a vision scientist from City St George's, University of London, stated, "It is not a new color. It’s a more saturated green that can only be produced when the only input comes from M cones." He considered the work to have "limited value." Nevertheless, the Berkeley team's tool, dubbed Oz vision (after the Emerald City in L. Frank Baum's books), promises to unlock new insights into how our brains generate visual perception.

Amazing applications could arise from this research, potentially helping scientists tackle color blindness and other vision-related ailments.

But will the rest of us ever get to experience olo for ourselves? Not anytime soon! Ng remarked, "We're not going to see olo on any smartphone displays or any TVs anytime soon. This is very, very far beyond VR headset technology."