Olo Required Selective M-Cone Stimulation

In 2025, UC Berkeley scientists produced a color called "olo" that only five people have officially seen. Under natural viewing conditions, light that stimulates the retina's green-sensitive M-cone cells also activates S-cone or L-cone cells, making olo impossible to see normally. Researchers mapped individual retinal cells and used precisely aimed lasers to stimulate the M cones while largely avoiding the others, creating what participants described as an extraordinarily saturated blue-green. The name comes from its theoretical LMS color coordinates of 0, 1, 0.

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