OLED and Quantum Dot displays may dominate 2025’s visual tech scene, but the most groundbreaking advancement isn’t on a screen at all. Scientists have unveiled ‘olo’—an exceptionally saturated blue-green color that exists entirely outside the conventional color spectrum our eyes evolved to perceive.
Breaking the Visual Barrier
The secret lies in the aptly named “Oz Vision System,” drawing inspiration from the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz. This technique transforms color perception by selectively stimulating only the M cone cells in the human retina. Unlike Other modern Best TV displays, which mix different wavelengths—the same basic tech powering screens since the rabbit-ear TV era—the Oz system bypasses these limitations entirely.
How the Magic Works
The technology—adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO)—allows for precise targeting of specific photoreceptors in the eye. By controlling which cone cells receive stimulation, researchers can create color perceptions that don’t exist in nature.
“More saturated than any colour that you can see in the real world,” explains Prof. Ren Ng, co-author of the study and one of only five participants who have experienced the color. In another interview with the BBC, Ng elaborated with an analogy: “It’s like someone who has only seen pale pink being shown red for the first time.”
This shift from traditional color reproduction methods represents a move from spectral metamerism to spatial metamerism—instead of mixing wavelengths to simulate colors, the Oz system controls exactly where light lands on the retina.
Reality, Expanded
Imagine walking into an art gallery where certain paintings contain colors your brain has never processed before. Picture streaming a movie where the villain wears a shade that doesn’t exist in nature. These applications remain theoretical for now, but they illustrate the potential of this breakthrough.
The current AOSLO hardware is decidedly not consumer-ready—bulky, expensive, and complex. This laboratory equipment bears little resemblance to the sleek, minimalist aesthetic modern tech consumers expect.
As Austin Roorda, a vision scientist on the research team, told NDTV: “There is no way to convey that colour in an article or on a monitor…” The experience of seeing ‘olo’ remains limited to laboratory conditions and the handful of researchers who have directly experienced it.
Not all experts agree on how to interpret these findings. Some scientists debate whether ‘olo’ constitutes a truly “new” color or represents a unique neural response to selective stimulation—a nuance worth considering amidst the excitement.
The Colorful Horizon
For now, ‘olo’ remains confined to specialized labs, but the implications ripple across industries. VR developers might someday create immersive worlds with impossible colors. Medical researchers see potential for treating color vision deficiencies, though these applications remain theoretical.
Prof. Ng helps contextualize the experience for those who will never see ‘olo’ firsthand: “Imagine you go through life seeing only pink…then one day…a new color, which we call red.” This analogy, shared in his BBC interview, offers a glimpse into the profound nature of experiencing a color outside our natural visual gamut.
As researchers continue refining this technology, one certainty remains: our understanding of visual perception stands at the edge of transformation. The world might someday become more colorful—in ways we quite literally cannot yet imagine.
