Color me magenta..

Color me magenta..

Because magenta doesn’t exist; at least not in the electromagnetic spectrum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_spectrum

Steve Mould explains that magenta or pink is created because we only have 3 different cones for color vision: red, green, and blue. It’s not surprising that most tv’s and photographs use the RGB colormap, i.e., only combinations of red, green, and blue.

In my research we often use different color spaces. I’ve mentioned RGB (red-green-blue). Some journals ask for figures in CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-black). But have you heard of CIE L*a*b* (CIELAB)? It’s an interesting color space. It can be helpful for image segmentation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lab_color_space

Here are more color vision related posts:

Real color

http://goo.gl/PjQpT via Rajini Rao 

Neurosciene and color 

http://goo.gl/wgbpt via Rajini Rao 

Epic why barns are red post

http://goo.gl/40F1J via Yonatan Zunger 

Vision: How the World Gets into the Brain

http://goo.gl/jHh5z via Allison Sekuler (vision scientist/neuroscientist extraordinaire)

For some amazing vision science about the infamous mantis shrimp:

The Mantis Shrimp: From Rainbow Vision to Death Claws

http://goo.gl/U4F3k via Allison Sekuler 

Mantis shrimp-photoreceptors

http://goo.gl/4g3bl via Rich Pollett 

#ScienceEveryday  when it isn’t #ScienceSunday  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPPYGJjKVco&feature=share