Octarine

We have finally discovered the colour of magic, the 8th colour, octarine. Discworld describes it as a fluorescent greenish yellow-purple, that can only been seen by wizards.

Well, according to the BBC we're calling it olo now, and the only way muggles can see it is with a high-tech laser setup.

The human eye has 3 colour detectors, which slightly overlap in which wavelengths they detect. Very short wavelengths only activate the higest detector, and very long wavelengths only the lowest, but natural light in the middle ranges activate all 3, with the medium one activating the most strongly. The laser setup used manages to only activate the medium detector, which isn't possible for natural light, and means that the brain can perceive a new colour that wouldn't normally be visible to muggles.

Is this a discovery or an invention? It seems more like a discovery to me because the ability to perceive octarine was always latent in the human brain, only impossible to activate under normal conditions.