Shutterstock / Lukas Gojda[/caption]

Most people see a particular range of colors based on the cones in their eyes. Some, sadly, have one variety or other of color blindness, and are not capable of distinguishing between different hues, such as red and green. And a few lucky individuals have what is called tetrachromia, a condition which gives them an extra set of cones in their eyes that allow them to see a whole host of colors invisible to most people.

But what if there was a way to “force” the human eye to see colors that they usually could not?

Well, scientists have recently developed a new method of delivering light directly into the eyes of subjects which causes them to see colors that would otherwise not be visible to them.

In a new paper published in Science Advances, researchers developed a method they call Oz in order to use lasers to deliver extremely specialized bursts of like that can activate specific retinal cone cells.

The method triggered subjects in the study to see an unusual, highly saturated blue green color that they described as “unprecedented.”

The new methodology is extremely different than the way color production is currently managed, because rather than manipulating spectrums of light it actually manipulates the eyes’ cones themselves.

This new method “centers around spatial metamerism, which controls the spatial distribution of light on the retina rather than the spectra of light itself,” the researchers wrote in a statement. “Analyses of retinal cells showed that this strategy, called Oz, affects photoreceptor behavior and enables selective induction of M cone cell activity.”

“We have three spectral types of cone photoreceptors (S, M and L for short-, middle and long- wavelength) with overlapping spectral sensitivities,” explained Dr Misha Corobyew. “Due to this overlap, any spectral light excites at least two spectral types of cones simultaneously. This limits the saturation of colors that we see. The paper uses a technique that allows to excite a single cone by shining a focussed laser light on it. This method of cone stimulation produces colors that do not exist in nature.”

Researchers hope that this technique may prove useful in the future as a therapy for those who suffer from color-blindness, but for now, it is only at “proof of concept” phase.

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