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‘I’m really just high on life and beauty’: the woman who can see 100 million colours
The Guardian ^ | 29 Jan 2022 | Bronwyn Adcock

Posted on 01/30/2022 6:51:34 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT

“It’s not just an affectation and it’s not artistic licence,” says Antico. “I’m actually painting exactly what I see. If it’s a pink flower and then all of a sudden you see a bit of lilac or blue, I actually saw that.”

Antico is a tetrachromat, which means she has a fourth colour receptor in her retina compared with the standard three which most people have. While those of us with three of these receptors – called cone cells – have the ability to distinguish around one million different colours, tetrachromats see an estimated 100 million.

According to Dr Kimberly Jameson, a University of California scientist who has studied Antico, just having the gene – which around 15% of women have – is not alone sufficient to be a tetrachromat, but it’s a necessary condition. “In Concetta’s case … one thing we believe is that because she’s been painting sort of continuously since the age of seven years old, she has really enlisted this extra potential and used it. This is how genetics works: it gives you the potential to do things and if the environment demands that you do that thing, then the genes kick in.”

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Science
KEYWORDS: colorreceptors; conecells; retina; tetrachromat
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To: NWFree

Women generally CAN discern colors better than men. Have you ever been utterly bewildered by your wife at a paint store?


21 posted on 01/30/2022 7:20:24 PM PST by The Antiyuppie (When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.)
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To: Fungi

I’ve done those online tests where you count the numbers of different colors you can see on the test spectrum and come up with a crazy amount.

I can also tell you what scene in nature will make a good infrared photo or not.

I also see a “glow”, for the lack of a better word, in dormant trees before they put out leaf buds in the spring weeks before they actually do.

I’ve tried to get others to see that but they don’t.

A useless talent in my own weird reality.


22 posted on 01/30/2022 7:22:50 PM PST by Salamander ("Salamander has barbaric tendencies" /Gundog)
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To: GaltAdonis

Not to me...Magenta is darker...imho


23 posted on 01/30/2022 7:24:32 PM PST by goodnesswins (....pervert Biden & O Cabal are destroying America, as planned.)
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To: NWFree

Hardly anyone would see the extra colors she paints? 🤪
= = =

You should see how many tubes of paint she has.


24 posted on 01/30/2022 7:26:23 PM PST by Scrambler Bob (My /s is more true than your /science (or you might mean /seance))
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To: DUMBGRUNT

The Color Out Of Space?


25 posted on 01/30/2022 7:29:33 PM PST by Mr. Blond
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To: GaltAdonis

—”What say ye?”

Magenta doesn’t exist because it has no wavelength; there’s no place for it on the spectrum. The only reason we see it is because our brain doesn’t like having green (magenta’s complement) between purple and red, so it substitutes a new thing.

https://t.ly/MSl6

Same as “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”
Only different.


26 posted on 01/30/2022 7:30:44 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: DUMBGRUNT
The invisible dog.


27 posted on 01/30/2022 7:31:08 PM PST by Rinnwald
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To: GaltAdonis

Looks pink to me.🤔


28 posted on 01/30/2022 7:32:50 PM PST by BiteYourSelf ( Earth first we'll strip mine the other planets later.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

If she paints colors that only she can see, then who will appreciate them?


29 posted on 01/30/2022 7:32:55 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: throwthebumsout

—”Almost as many colors as genders.”

NO WAY!

Near as I can determine the gender BS goes on forever.

I suspect there is only a finite number of possible frequencies on the visible spectrum?

And even the fashion industry would run out of names for that many colors.
If a color is not named, does it exist?


30 posted on 01/30/2022 7:37:08 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

—”Do You Have SUPER Color Vision?”

A very nice find!
Thanx


31 posted on 01/30/2022 7:39:05 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: Rinnwald

>The invisible dog.

What dog?


32 posted on 01/30/2022 7:42:15 PM PST by nevadapatriot
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To: DUMBGRUNT

ROYGBIV+


33 posted on 01/30/2022 7:43:38 PM PST by moovova
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To: DUMBGRUNT
Wonder if she has names for all of them?

34 posted on 01/30/2022 7:45:17 PM PST by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: Salamander

Fungi love salamanders, especially red bellied ones.


35 posted on 01/30/2022 7:47:45 PM PST by Fungi
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To: Kriggerel

—”Thanks for the Blood Sweat & Tears earworm there. :P”

THANK YOU!
Soon as I went to post the article, I recalled the line.
But not the source, a search of song lyrics... I even ask my wife; she knowns all.

I’ve been severely hearing since RVN, so I knew it was not anything recent.

Blood, Sweat & Tears - Spinning Wheel (Audio)
https://youtu.be/SFEewD4EVwU


36 posted on 01/30/2022 7:52:15 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: Fungi
The general figure used is 100 detectable levels for each type of cone. Four cone types equals 100x100x100x100 colors. Normal trichromats can one million colors. A dichromat like a dog or a very colorblind person only has two types of cones so can only see about 10,000 colors.

Imagine living in a world where blue and yellow don't make green, but a completely different color.

37 posted on 01/30/2022 7:52:41 PM PST by KarlInOhio (I stand behind Alec Baldwin. It is far too dangerous to stand in front of him.)
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To: kara37

—”Birds are tetrachromats. They see UV light.”

After you mentioned it, I recalled bees also.

and more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy


38 posted on 01/30/2022 7:55:42 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I see blue and yellow polarized light. Caught crap for it when I was a kid, too. I learned not to talk about it until later in life.


39 posted on 01/30/2022 7:59:20 PM PST by MercyFlush (DANGER: You are being conditioned to view your freedom as selfish)
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To: lee martell

—”makes me wonder if tetrachromatism can be a temporary condition to the average person. “

See reply number 6.

I would not be recommending any pharmaceuticals.

That said I did have some hallucinations with plain old sensory deprivation.


40 posted on 01/30/2022 8:01:37 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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