The Forbidden Colors Your Eyes Can’t See

Posted by Alex in Science & Tech on January 19, 2012 at 7:27 pm

Don't even bother making reddish green or yellowish blue colors. Your eyes simply can't see them:

Red-green and yellow-blue are the so-called "forbidden colors." Composed of pairs of hues whose light frequencies automatically cancel each other out in the human eye, they're supposed to be impossible to see simultaneously.

The limitation results from the way we perceive color in the first place. Cells in the retina called "opponent neurons" fire when stimulated by incoming red light, and this flurry of activity tells the brain we're looking at something red. Those same opponent neurons are inhibited by green light, and the absence of activity tells the brain we're seeing green. Similarly, yellow light excites another set of opponent neurons, but blue light damps them. While most colors induce a mixture of effects in both sets of neurons, which our brains can decode to identify the component parts, red light exactly cancels the effect of green light (and yellow exactly cancels blue), so we can never perceive those colors coming from the same place.

Link | Impossible Colors at Wikipedia

 
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Bionic Eye Replaces Retina

Posted by Miss Cellania in Health, Science & Tech on March 4, 2009 at 12:18 pm

The company Second Sight has developed a bionic eye called the Argus II. The eye uses implanted electrodes to replace a malfunctioning retina. So far, the device has been implanted in 18 patients around the world.

It uses a camera and video processor mounted on sunglasses to send captured images wirelessly to a tiny receiver on the outside of the eye.

In turn, the receiver passes on the data via a tiny cable to an array of electrodes which sit on the retina – the layer of specialised cells that normally respond to light found at the back of the eye.

When these electrodes are stimulated they send messages along the optic nerve to the brain, which is able to perceive patterns of light and dark spots corresponding to which electrodes have been stimulated.

The hope is that patients will learn to interpret the visual patterns produced into meaningful images.

The BBC followed a 73-year-old patient named Ron who received an Argus II.

“For 30 years I’ve seen absolutely nothing at all, it’s all been black, but now light is coming through. Suddenly to be able to see light again is truly wonderful.

“I can actually sort out white socks, grey socks and black socks.”

Link -via reddit

 
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