Can you imagine his reaction if he'd seen A HUNDRED MORE RAINBOWS???

Hello visionaries, Julian here for DNews.

Your senses are an illusion; they're all just ways your brain interprets your environment

and they leave a lot out.

Like radio waves are basically the same thing as visible light, they're just so stretched

out you can't see them.

But you can tune in to a radio station and know they're there.

But what about invisible information in between what you can see?

Could there be more to sense hiding in plain sight?

Absolutely.

Most people can see about a million colors.

This is because inside of the typical human eye there are three types of cones that are

sensitive to red, green, and blue wavelengths of light.

And each can differentiate about 100 shades.

Which can be mixed and matched.

So 1003 means there are a million possibilities.

This is why tv and computer screens use mosaics of red, green and blue lights to display images.

Digital cameras detect varying levels of red, green, and blue light when you take a picture.

It's technology designed around our biology.

Well, Most people's biology, not all.

Some people have a genetic mutation which renders one cone inoperative, making them

dichromatic instead of trichromatic, or what we would call colorblind.

Usually these people are men, because the genes for cones are carried on the x chromosome,

so colorblind men would need just one mutated x chromosome while colorblind women would

need to get two.

So if it's possible to effectively have two functioning cones and only see 10,000

colors, is it also possible to have four different cones and be able to see 100 million?

That's what Newcastle University neuroscientist Gabriele Jordan had been searching for for

decades, and in 2010 she finally found one.

Jordan was testing women who have colorblind sons, the rationale being the sons must have

inherited a mutated x chromosome from their mothers.

So the women must have two different x chromosomes and therefore four cones in their eyes.

The women looked at three colored circles that to most people would look identical,

but one had just a little red or green mixed in that would only be visible to someone with

four active cones.

And out of the 24 women who took the test, only one got every single question right.

So it's rare.

It's estimated only about 1% of people have a fourth cone, and even then many don't

seem to use it.

And even when they do, how can they communicate what they see to us three-coned non-superhumans?

It's the classic “what if my red is different than your red but we can't tell?”

question all over again.

So why are tetrachromats who can actually use their powers so rare?

The precise reason is still a mystery.

According to Jameson it may come down to learning to use that extra cone, informally called

the Yellow cone.

It could be that even though some people have four cones, their brains are adapted for the

usual three, and taking advantage of those extra hues comes with repetition that makes

the brain rewire itself.

Or maybe they just don't notice the extra colors because no one else is mentioning them.

Jameson also notes that the difference between a tetrachromat's vision and a trichromat's

is not as dramatic as the difference between a trichromat's and a dichromat's.

If you are a dichromat, don't feel left out.

Tons of animals are right there with you.

Dogs are dichromats too and it's a myth that they see black and white.

For more cool info on how your eye sees colors, Julia's got some deets on that right here.

Special thanks to the folks at Fig. 1 for providing the animations,

be sure to check them out here.

Do you think you have a superhuman sense?

Tell us what it is and why down in the comments.

Subscribe for more, and I'll see you next time on DNews