Hey, how do you fancy sending your name on a mission to Mars, and getting a certificate to prove it? No, seriously – just go sign up and, while spaces remain, your name will be added to a list that will be included on a DVD and carried to the Red Planet by the Phoenix probe, along with ‘messages to the future’ by various luminaries of space exploration and advocacy for the edification of future inhabitants. Let’s hope their playback device isn’t region-locked, eh?

Chalk one up for American particle physics. The boffins at Fermilab have discovered two new subatomic particles, the ‘sigma-b baryons’, which are apparently the heaviest ever measured. We’re another step closer to uncovering the way the universe works.

Good news! Missing NASA moon landing tapes have been found – in the dusty basement of an Australian physics department lecture hall, of all places. Don’t get too excited, though – these aren’t the notoriously ‘mislaid’ video footage reels, but they contain data transmitted by the science apparatus that the Apollo crew set up around the lander. It’ll be interesting to hear what the hoax-conspiracy lobby has to say in the wake of this firm evidence for the Moon landings having really happened.

Motorola’s latest cell phone offering is going in the opposite direction of the super-capable mobile computing platforms that are the tech industry darlings. It’s super simple, uses e-ink technology for great battery life, and remains slim and cool-looking. [slashdot]

It’s like some kind of Frankenstein’s monster for the alternative energy set: a bicycle with electric assist and a big ol’ sail. The Pterosail is, I suspect, a bit unwieldy for the average Joe but it sure looks like fun. [treehugger]