It’s a fun playground question, Is my red like your red? Well if you’re colorblind,
your red is probably a lot like your green.
Hey everyone, Julia here for DNews
Being colorblind not as rare as you’d think. Around 7%–10% of men have some form of what
is commonly called red-green color blindness.
In colorblind people, 75% have trouble with green, while only 20%
have issues with seeing red.
It’s not like those colors don’t exist for them. Most ‘colorblind’ people can
actually see these colors when they’re bright, but if they’re dull or muted in some way,
they started to get a little hard to tell apart.
Most men get the gene from their mother’s father. It’s a genetic mutation on the X
chromosome, which means if men get that copy of that gene, they will express it, or experience
it. Whereas most women have two XX chromosomes, so sometimes one x will have the mutation
and the other will be just fine and kind of overrides the mutation.
To understand what exactly this mutation is doing, let’s take a closer look at the eye.
The back of your eyes have a lining filled with photoreceptors. Which means cells that
can sense light. Across the animal kingdom there’s quite a few kinds of these cells.
But humans have only two. Rods and cones. While rods help us see in low light situations,
they see the world in mostly black and white. Cones on the other hand, help us see a rainbow.
Three different kinds of cones, each absorb different wavelengths of light. Short, long
and medium.
Basically when one of the genes get mutated, one or more of these cones don’t work right.
The most common form of color blindness, red-green, occurs when medium wavelength sensing cones
don’t develop properly. This is called Dichromacy. Monochromacy occurs when two or more of the
light sense cones can’t work, inducing an almost total color blindness.
Less severe is "anomalous trichromacy". Where the cones work.. kind of. They’re anomalous,
or different in some way. So some people might have trouble distinguishing between shades
of colors. A rare condition, achromatopsia, is the inability to see any color. They literally
see the world in black and white.
On the other end of the spectrum, some people see MORE colors. Tetrachromacy occurs when
someone, almost always a woman, has a fourth type of cone cell. But not a single case was
actually found until fairly recently.
The idea that some people might have a fourth cone was put forward in the late 1940s by
Dutch scientist HL de Vries. After studying color blindness in men, he thought that maybe
their daughters might carry the mutation too. Since the mutation is carried on the x chromosome,
that means women with the gene would have three normal cones, but ALSO the mutation.
Equalling a total of four types!
But after searching and searching scientists couldn’t find a single person with this
condition until 2010. It seems that it takes training to unlock the powers of this fourth
cone. Concetta Antico works as an artist and sees shades we can’t even imagine. She sees
pink in moonlight and red in green leaves. But it’s not all sunshine and roses, she
says going to the supermarket is like “a trash pile of colour”. While genetics aren’t
all that rare, maybe up to 12% of women have the gene, it takes training to really see
all the possibilities, like becoming a painter.
So no, you probably aren’t a tetrachromat and no, that alone doesn’t prove or do anything
really. Sorry to burst your bubble. On the other hand though, you can still lose your
sense of color even if you don’t have the gene due to eye, nerve, or brain damage, or
even exposure to certain chemicals. Or some people’s ability to distinguish colors can
fade over time. The cones just get worn out. Over half of people 85 or older have some
trouble seeing colors. according to a study published in Optometry and Vision Science.
As you get older the optical media within the lens fades and yellows. So some greens
appear more yellow.
So enjoy that color while you can kid. It won’t last forever. So excuse me, i’m
going to go take photos of a sunset or something.
Speaking of colors, have you ever wondered if seeing red makes you angry? Check out this
video to find out how colors affect your mood!