Can bright lights during night photography damage camera sensors?

So I've read in places the only way you can really damage your camera's sensor is from overheating the sensor. Such heat would only come from doing a long exposure shot of a really bright object (ie. The sun).

However, I have been trying to look at some different things with night photography and videography.

If when taking a star-trail picture a bright light flashes into the camera lens, the shot will probably be ruined, but will there be any internal damage? How much tolerance does a camera have for these things?

Additionally, is the effect on the camera different when shooting video vs. Extended exposure pictures?

If you get high-beamed at night while driving you go blind for a few seconds, but are soon fine again; is this true in cameras?

If this question can't be answered to be "In general," I have a Nikon D70 for night pictures, and for night video I have the Nikon D7000. 10 years separate these models, has technology to prevent this advanced as TVs have with burn-ins?

No, bright lights shining won't have any affect on the sensor, but yes the overexposure they cause may well ruin a long exposure you are in the middle of doing.

Long exposures at night won't damage the sensor either - it will heat up some, but there are thermal cutouts to prevent long term damage.

Pointing the camera directly at the sun with the shutter open for a significant length of time could in theory cause damage as the lens will focus the rays onto the sensor & damage it.

We see with our eyes and our brain. This eye/brain combination is wonderful but our ability to estimate brightness is poor. This is because two physiological changes take place that can fool us as to brightness.
1. The human eye has an iris; this is the colored portion of our eye, named for the Greek god of the rainbow. The iris surrounds the pupil and involuntarily contracts and expands. In other words, the diameter of the pupil atomically expands and contracts and this adjusts the volume of light that is allowed to enter the eye. Because this action is involuntary, we're poor judges of light intensity.

2. A second powerful involuntary deed occurs under dim lighting. The eye/brain involuntarily secretes rhodopsin a purple dye that bathes the retina and this stimulates it to become super light sensitive. This action called dark adaption makes us a poor judge of light intensity.

I tell you this because sunlight is amazingly bright and if a camera is accidently pointed at the sun, the sun's image focused on the digital sensor could induce harm. This is because light is converted to heat energy when it sticks and is not reflected away. This action can cause permanent damage. Such damage is unlikely to happen when dealing with artificial light sources because they are super weak as compared to the sun. Oh yes! Some artificial sources might harm but you are not likely to experience this phenomenon.

No. Not even the brightest artificial light would be strong enough to damage the sensor. Not even your 10 year old camera.

Long exposures at night won't have any effect on the sensor. It will warm up a bit, and you'll get noise if you use a really long exposure, but there will be no damage at all.

For that you'd need to point it directly at the sun for a sufficient length of time, with the shutter open, to cause any real damage.

The camera has built in protection to shut down before any damage can occur.