July 30, 2026
Hue gonna believe this?
What Would It Mean to See a New Color?
Scientists chase a never-seen color as commenters roast, philosophize, and spiral
TLDR: A Berkeley researcher wants to use precise eye stimulation to find out whether humans could experience a color that doesn’t appear in normal life. Commenters turned it into a mix of philosophy class, illusion-sharing, and a hilarious mini-backlash against the placeholder color code #00FFCC.
A Berkeley professor’s simple “wait, is color really just red, green, blue?” moment has turned into full-on internet brain-melt theater. Ren Ng saw eye research showing scientists could aim light at tiny color-sensing cells in the retina and wondered: what if you triggered only one type in a way nature normally never does? That wild question led to a serious idea for seeing a brand-new color—or at least something beyond the colors our eyes usually let us experience.
But the real fireworks are in the reactions. One camp instantly went philosophical, with commenters reviving the classic mind-bender: can you even imagine a color you’ve never seen? Another person called it “basically a real life version of Mary’s Room,” dragging the whole discussion into consciousness, perception, and whether knowledge is the same as actual experience. Casual readers, meanwhile, brought the chaos back down to earth: one commenter declared total war on the made-up color stand-in #00FFCC, complaining they “dislike” it and insisting it’s not the “real Olo color.” Yes, the comments managed to turn a deep science story into a petty color feud.
Then came the internet’s favorite move: “try this at home.” One user dropped a stare-at-the-dot illusion link, basically daring everyone to speed-run a fake new-color experience. Add in the archived article link, and the vibe is clear: half wonder, half argument, all obsession. The science is big, but the comments are where the weirdness truly blooms.
Key Points
- •Ren Ng’s interest in the possibility of a never-before-seen color began while preparing a computer graphics course at UC Berkeley.
- •Austin Roorda’s lab had developed methods to image individual retinal cone cells and target single cones with light.
- •The article explains that normal human color vision depends on combined stimulation of L, M, and S cone cells.
- •Ng proposed that stimulating cone cells in patterns that do not occur naturally might expand the range of perceivable colors.
- •In 2018, Ng formalized the idea in a proposal called “The Grass Is Greenest in Oz Vision,” which led Roorda to respond and discuss the concept.