This is pretty neat: scientists at Vanderbilt have discovered that emotionally charged imagery can induce a split second of blindness. They've even got a flash application that lets you see for yourself.

I love this kind of stuff. Most folks have heard about blindsight -- it's intriguing, but I always found the complementary phenomenon more interesting. Blindsight patients aren't aware of the full extent of the information available to them; patients with anosognosia aren't aware of their limitations, which can include some pretty hard-to-miss deficiencies. Learning that you can go blind without knowing it made a big impression on me.

And hey, with that in mind, why not go do one of those blind spot experiments that you failed to pay attention to because of your furious preoccupation with Oregon Trail. Or, for a slightly more impressive but less relevant effect, have a look here.