We’ve all seen the same set of basic graphical illusions over and over since grade school, chestnuts like the Wife or Mother-in-Law image. After a while they seem lame and worn out; you’ve seen them all. But don’t give up yet. What you are about to see is, I feel safe in saying, the coolest illusion you have seen to date, perhaps the coolest you will ever see in your entire life. You will stare at it and stare at it and swear it can’t be so. You will call in your co-workers from the office next door. You will send it to your parents. The tired, old-fashioned version of the Checkerboard illusion is on display here (at Grand Illusions, which is nevertheless a very nifty site). The altogether new and truly amazing Checkershadow Illusion was created by Edward Adelson and lives at MIT. Once you have convinced yourself it can’t be so, peek here to see something that might make you believe. (seen on kottke.org)
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Rambles Blog at Star Chamber 
I can’t believe this post is over a year and a half old! I recently received an email from someone else interested in optical illusions, linking me to a paper by a group at MIT that actually explains the checkerboard illusion (and similar illusions) in – perhaps too much – detail:
http://persci.mit.edu/people/adelson/publications/gazzan.dir/gazzan.htm
Ain’t the retina fascinatin’!