Can We Invent a New Color?

Ever tried to imagine a new color? Not just a weird mix of blue-green or some off-brand orange, but a completely new shade that no human has ever seen before? Yeah… doesn’t work. Your brain just glitches out.

But why? And is there a way to break free from the limits of human vision? Let’s dive in.

The Hard Limits of Human Sight

Your eyeballs are basically cameras with factory settings you can’t change. We can only see light within the visible spectrum—a narrow slice of wavelengths from about 380 nm (violet) to 750 nm (red). Anything beyond that (like ultraviolet or infrared)? Invisible.

This is because your retina contains three types of cone cells, each tuned to detect a different range of light: red, green, and blue. Your brain mixes these signals to create all the colors you experience. But if a color exists outside this system, your brain simply has no way to process it. It’s like trying to hear a sound that only dogs can detect—your hardware just isn’t built for it.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t hack our perception of color. Scientists have found ways to trick the brain, push the limits of human sight, and even create "new" colors.

1. The "Impossible Colors" You Weren’t Supposed to See

Some colors theoretically exist, but our eyes aren’t built to process them. Scientists call these chimerical colors, and they’re absolute mind-benders:

• Stygian blue: A color that’s both dark like black and vibrantly blue at the same time.

• Self-luminous red: A red so bright it looks like it’s glowing—even though it isn’t.

• Hyperbolic orange: A color that seems more saturated than anything your eyes should be able to handle.

How do you see them? Optical tricks, eye fatigue, and color contrast illusions can force the brain to perceive these colors momentarily. Scientists have even designed experiments where people reported seeing these "forbidden" colors by staring at specific color patterns for long periods.

2. Some People See More Colors Than You