I was watching a show today called Proof Positive on the Discovery Times channel. It was about being able to see all the information there is to see in black and white xrays. Apparently the human eye is only capable of discerning 32 shades of gray in a scale of white to black according to Patrick Love who designed some computer software that can "see" up to 256 shades of gray.
Once we have reached the 32 shades of gray, the picture or whatever we are looking at does not improve or show more detail when adding more shades of gray due to the limits of our eyes. The software Love created picks up where our eyes leave off and we are now able to see far more information from xrays. This is especially useful in identifying bomb victims. Just thought you would like to know, if you don't already!
Now, does anyone know if this relates to our ability to see 256 colors? If we are not, then they sure are going through alot of expensive trouble to improve things like games and stuff if we aren't able to see an improvement or more detail after a certain point.