KQED's Forum

Most Humans Can See 10 Million Colors. Cal Scientists Found One More.

September 17, 2026·54 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

What if you could create a color, one that no one had ever seen before? That’s what a team of UC Berkeley scientists set out to do, and in the process they found a new green — one so intense a camera could not capture it and a printer could not replicate it. How they did it and how their discovery may change what we know about color science and how the eye works are the subjects of a New Yorker article by Rivka Galchen, “What Would It Mean to See a New Color?” We talk to Austin Roorda and Ren Ng, the scientists behind the work, and Galchen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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