Supersensory Power
Some women enchant us with their beauty, others with the food they lovingly prepare, some with their vibrant energy or verve. Some captivate through eloquent words, others through profound listening; an ebullient fountain in one, vivid perception in another. They bewitch us all with their quiet superpowers.
Shade Matching Competition
Neeta went with her husband, to select some cloth for her suit, she had a small snip of cloth that she wanted exact shade of, “Orangish” it should have been easy enough to find but she rejected one orange after another , husband was stupefied, the shopkeeper affronted he searched the entire shop, but could not match her particular shade of orange, three shops later, she found the piece, and husband tired and sick of the women’s peccadillo tolerated till she took the chosen matched suit and asked him how this orange will look on her. He complied “very nice” with alacrity lest she start on her spree again. It was evening, they went for food, Neeta in high spirits, Ramesh amused.
This power has been scientifically proven in modern times: Vividness , or Tetrachromacy in Women.
Humans typically have three types of cones in eyes, yet some women possess four. This “magic” reveals itself when they match clothes with uncanny precision or become utterly fascinated by the subtle shades in flowers. These women experience what we might call a vivid perception of colors—a world richer in hues than most of us can imagine.
Historical Discovery and Key Milestones
The concept emerged only after we understood cone genetics and X-linked inheritance:
- 1948: Dutch scientist H.L. de Vries first speculated about it while studying color-blind men. He noticed some mothers/sisters had unusually acute color discrimination, hinting they might carry an extra cone variant from the same mutated gene.
- 1980s–1990s: With the cloning of opsin genes (Jeremy Nathans, 1986), researchers like John Mollon (Cambridge) and Gabriele Jordan (Newcastle) proposed the mechanism: heterozygous women could have two slightly different L/M opsins + the standard blue, enabling four cones. They began searching for evidence.
- 2010: Jordan, Mollon, and colleagues tested 24 women with genetic potential. Most showed no behavioral difference (the extra cone didn’t add usable color info—perhaps due to neural wiring or insufficient separation). Strong evidence emerged in ongoing work.
- ~2012–2014: The first confirmed functional tetrachromat (cDa29, a doctor in northern England) was identified after 25+ years of searching. She consistently distinguished color pairs invisible to trichromats in rigorous tests.
- 2010s onward: Artist Concetta Antico gained fame as a self-reported and confirmed tetrachromat (genetically tested by Jay Neitz at the University of Washington in 2012–2014). Her paintings burst with hyper-vivid, nuanced colors she claims reflect her perception. Other cases (e.g., some interior designers) have shown positive results in recent pilot tests.
- Current view (2020s): Functional tetrachromacy is real but extremely rare—even among those with four cone types, most don’t use the fourth as a true extra channel (possibly due to retinal circuitry or lack of developmental “training”). Only a handful are confirmed behaviorally. It may explain why certain women seem “magically” good at matching clothes, spotting subtle shades in flowers/nature, or describing colors in ways others can’t fathom.
Color-Blind Men & the Genetic Link
Color blindness is X-linked recessive, seen much more frequently in males. The genetic basis was discovered by the famous John Dalton. In 1794, he published “Extraordinary Facts Relating to the Vision of Colors with Observations”, realizing he and his brother saw colors differently (the condition is still called Daltonism in the US and Europe). Modern DNA analysis of his preserved eyes (1990s) confirmed strong deuteranopia (green-weak, missing middle-wavelength cone pigment).
Swiss ophthalmologist Johann Friedrich Horner (1870s) studied pedigrees and observed the pattern: it skips generations through female lines and affects males far more often.
A normal man with a carrier wife produces color-blind sons at ~50% and carrier daughters at ~50%. Color-blind daughters are rare unless the father is color-blind and the mother is a carrier (heterozygous) or affected (homozygous). A color-blind man with a color-blind woman has all children color-blind.
In 1911, Edmund Beecher Wilson linked Horner’s patterns to the X chromosome: males (XY) express it with one copy (from mom); females (XX) need two (rare).
Cytology of Rods and Cones
Early glimpses came in 1722 from Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (“stratum bacillorum et conorum” in retinas). The real advances were in 19th-century German labs:
| Name | Year | Work / Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Antonie van Leeuwenhoek | 1684/1722 | First microscopic observation of retinal structures (rods/cones layer). |
| Heinrich Müller | 1850s (~1854–1856) | Advanced histology; photoreception in rods/cones; detailed retinal layers. |
| Carl Bergmann | 1854 | Fovea contains only cones (rod-free center); argued they are light-sensitive photoreceptors. |
| Max Schultze | 1866 | Duplex theory: rods for dim light, cones for color/bright detail; cross-species comparisons. |
Rods excel in dim light (rhodopsin pigment, single-photon detection), mostly peripheral. Cones concentrate in the fovea for peak acuity and color.
Genetics of Color Vision
In 1986, Jeremy Nathans and colleagues identified:
- Blue (S-cone) opsin on chromosome 7 (OPN1SW, ~420 nm).
- Red (L-cone, OPN1LW ~560 nm) and green (M-cone, OPN1MW ~530 nm) as tandem genes on the X chromosome.
Absence of green → deuteranopia; absence of red → protanopia. This explained X-linked defects (hybrids/deletions cause milder forms).
Super Tasters
Supersensory Sisters: Taste Edition
Vision isn’t alone—women hold a parallel edge in taste, as supertasters. These women detect bitterness intensely, thanks to 2–10x more fungiform papillae (taste bud domes) on the tongue. Prevalence? ~25–35% of women vs. 15–22% of men, amplified by estrogen boosting papillae density and renewal.
No X‑link or “4 ears” here—TAS2R38 on chromosome 7 codes the key bitter receptor, with PAV (taster/supertaster) vs. AVI (nontaster) haplotypes. Supertasters rate PROP/PTC as searingly bitter, feel more burn from capsaicin, and sense enhanced sweet/sour/fat textures.
This shapes preferences: supertaster women often shun cruciferous veggies (broccoli, kale), black coffee, or dark chocolate, yet master nuanced spicing—bewitching us at the stove. Like tetrachromats honing art, lifelong cooking “trains” their palate, turning biology into
Women like Concetta (and the rare functional tetrachromats) andsuper-tasters Chefs are all around us, quietly enhancing our world with their heightened perception. Let’s celebrate them—not as witches in the literal sense, but as bearers of evolutionary gifts that make life more colorful.