True Colors

"Concetta, a functioning tetrachromat, possesses a rare genetic mutation that illuminates one hundred distinct shades of color for every one perceived by the average person. Human color vision falls along a vibrant spectrum created from an interplay of genetics and environment: anomalous trichromats (the 6 percent of individuals referred to as colorblind) possess two fully functioning color receptors, most commonly blue with either deficient red or green; trichromats, encompassing the majority of humans, register somewhere between a hundred thousand to a million colors from a blend of blue, red, and green; and tetrachromats, a rare cohort, express a fourth color receptor in their eyes that, in Concetta's case, corresponds to orange." Artist Concetta Antico is possessed of vision that can register 100 million colors-- 100 times the amount that most people can see. Science writer Natalie Middleton shares more about Concetta's dazzling world.

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