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Dallas-based Texas Instruments is betting big on American-made chips, with an ambitious plan to invest up to $30 billion to build as many as four new semiconductor fabrication plants in Sherman. TI said Wednesday it will begin construction next year on the first two plants producing its 300-millimeter wafers used in everything from cars and trucks to industrial machinery. It estimates chip production will start by 2025.

Brain plaques may have been seeded by contaminated hormone extracts from cadavers. Only a decade ago, the idea that Alzheimer’s disease might be transmissible between people would have been laughed off the stage. But scientists have since shown that tissues can transmit symptoms of the disease between animals — and new results imply that humans, at least in one unusual circumstance, may not be an exception. The findings, published in this issue of Nature, emerged during autopsy studies of the brains of eight people who had died of the rare but deadly Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD; Z. Jaunmuktane et al. Nature...

In another thread, I came across Donald Trump doing a passable job of the Green Acres theme. Here in the Dallas area, the Ticket sports station has their own variation of the theme. My question to the vast collection of musicologists out there in FReeperland is about the instrumentation deployed on that familiar theme. What in the heck are those instruments that gave it such a distinct, rustic flavor? Was it Moog synthesizers or traditional string and woodwinds? I'll admit to being pretty much of an idiot when it comes to the "behind the scenes" stuff involved in creation of...

Researchers have identified what they say are the oldest-known musical instruments in the world.The flutes, made from bird bone and mammoth ivory, come from a cave in southern Germany which contains early evidence for the occupation of Europe by modern humans - Homo sapiens. Scientists used carbon dating to show that the flutes were between 42,000 and 43,000 years old. The findings are described in the Journal of Human Evolution. A team led by Prof Tom Higham at Oxford University dated animal bones in the same ground layers as the flutes at Geissenkloesterle Cave in Germany's Swabian Jura. Prof Nick...

Two brothers from Beijing have carved out an unusual career - making musical instruments from carrots, potatoes and other vegetables. Nan Weidong and Nan Weiping have been making playable flutes with everything from leeks to carrots. Frequent projects see them using a sweet potato as an ocarina, a bamboo shoot as a flute, and a yam might become a whistle. The pair make a living from their instruments which have seen them appear on Chinese talent shows and other high-profile performances, which pay up to $8,000 a time. Each does however, require a new set of instruments, as the vegetables...

The harp of Israel goes back to the Tanach. It is written that the first person to play was a man called Yuval who played on a kinor. The next person was King David, who was the one who brought it to a very high level of awareness. He used it as a spiritual instrument to connect to Hashem. Then it went right into the Beit Hamikdash where there were 4,000 Leviim who played the harp. The tribe of Levi taught their children at age three to play on the nevel, the kinor, the shofar, and the silver trumpet. They...

THEY were once outlawed for being used as seditious weapons of war. Now, bagpipes have been blasted as an environmental menace. Over-intensive logging means that the African wood used to make Scotland's national instrument faces being wiped out. Conservation groups are letting out skirls of protest, urging musicians and instrument manufacturers to make sure their pipes come from eco-friendly sources. As part of the campaign, Scots are being asked to fund the planting of "bagpipe trees" in a bid to atone for the environmental damage.

Some restrictions on hand luggage on planes are to be relaxed next week after government talks with the airline operators. The changes are likely to mean bulky items, including musical instruments, will be allowed as carry-on baggage. Orchestras complained that they were being badly affected by draconian rules that effectively prevented musicians taking large instruments on planes. The Department for Transport has been working "to see if there are any practical steps that can be taken to lessen the burden while not compromising on security".

For more than 30 years, Ralph Kirshbaum bought two airline tickets for his trips. The world-renowned American musician, who lives in England, bought one seat for himself, and the other for his strong, silent companion - a priceless 250-year-old Montagnana cello. But British authorities say Mr. Kirshbaum must now sit alone. Since police broke up an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic flights last month, restrictions have been placed on travelers: Nothing larger than a laptop bag can be carried into airplane cabins. But cellists, violinists, and French horn players are loath to consign their instruments, often antiquities worth millions...

Archaeologists find 4,500-year-old fortune-telling instruments www.chinaview.cn 2005-11-23 19:09:12 BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- A Chinese archaeologist said Wednesday that a 4,500-year-old jade tortoise and an oblong jade article discovered in east China's Anhui Province were China's earliest fortune-telling instruments found so far. The two jade objects were discovered in an ancient tomb in Lingjiatan Village, Hanshan County, Anhui Province. Gu Fang, an expert with the jadeware research committee under the China Society of Cultural Relics, told Xinhua that the jade tortoise is made up of a back shell and a belly shell. Several holes can be found on the jade...

Archaeologists find ancient musical instruments (26-01-2005) Musical instruments thought to be about 3,000 years old have been found by a team of Vietnamese archeologists. Known as lithophones, the ancient instruments are typically made of 11 slabs of stone. The lithophones were found in the southern province of Binh Duong in early January at a site that stretches some 20ha near a small hill in My Loc village in Tan My Commune of Tan Uyen District. The broken instruments were buried deep in an 8sq.m pit, said Dr Bui Chi Hoang, deputy director of the Archaeology Centre of the Southern Institute...

The beat begins early in life when it comes to children's choice of instruments: Boys favor drums and horns, girls flutes and violins. Ask children what musical instruments they would like to play and boys invariably will pick the trumpet, drums or saxophone, while girls will tend to favor the violin, clarinet or flute. These gender-based choices seem to be so embedded that researchers have now shown that children as young as 5 exhibit stereotypical preferences when it comes to musical instruments. Reporting in the current issue of the journal Sex Roles, University of Washington researcher Betty Repacholi said these...