Category Archives: Life Extension

Yukon contractors are "pretty excited" that the territory's only operating hard rock mine will likely stay open for a few more years.

Capstone'sMintomine, nearPellyCrossing, was expected to go into care and maintenance mode later this year, but this week the company announced it would keep mining at the site until at least 2020.

Pelly Construction, the mine's main contractor for over 22 years, has 70 people working at Minto. Those workers were only expecting towork until the end of June, to finishup work atan open pit deposit.

But a recentupswing in copper prices is making Mintoviable again.

'That mine influenced us a great deal so we are pretty exited that we get to stay there 'til 2020,' said Jennifer Byram of Pelly Construction. (Philippe Morin/CBC)

Jennifer Byram, vice president of community affairs for Pelly Construction, says thenews from Capstone couldn't have come at a better time.

"[We're]just celebrating our 30years in operation as PellyConstruction, and having 22 years being at Minto mine. That mine influenced us a great deal, so we are pretty excited that we get to stay there 'til2020," Byram said.

Pelly Construction is involved inall the surface mining and construction at Minto, including blasting, hauling ore to the mill, and removing waste rock.

Byram says the majority of her company's employees are from the Yukon.

Samson Hartland, executive director of Yukon Chamber of Mines,also welcomesthe news. He says the306 workers at the mine144 Minto employeesand 162 contract employees help Yukon's economy.

Samson Hartland of the Yukon Chamber of Mines says the mine benefits the Yukon economy by employing a lot of people. (Paul Tukker/CBC)

"Not only are people employed by the mine, but [there are] the contractors, the service and supply companiesthat provide goods and services to the mine," Hartland said.

"You've got theSelkirk First Nation given that the mine is located oncategory Asettlement land, the resource royalties flow directly to that First Nation."

Yukon's Energy Mines and Resources Minister Ranj Pillai agrees that the mine benefits the community and the territory as a whole.

"We are very pleasedthat Capstone'sMintomine plans to continue production for another 3 years, and hopefully beyond 2020," Pillai said.

Government officials are now reviewing plans for Capstone to mine additional areas on the Minto Property.

That review includes consultation with the Selkirk First Nation.

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Minto mine's life extension welcome news in Yukon - North - CBC ... - CBC.ca

I recently received an article taken from the New York Times on April 12 about how running is the most effective exercise to increase life expectancy. Based on new and past research this new study found that, compared to nonrunners, runners tended to live about three additional years, even if they run slowly or sporadically and smoke, drink or are overweight. This finding is a follow-up from a large trove of medical and fitness tests conducted by the Cooper Institute in Dallas. This analysis found that as little as five minutes of daily running was associated with prolonged life spans.

In the three years since the original study researchers were inundated with questions from fellow scientists and the general public, says Duck-chul Lee, a professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University and a co-author of the study. In the new study, which was published last month in Progress in Cardiovascular Disease, Dr. Lee and his colleagues reanalyzed the issues of the earlier work along with the results of other large scale studies looking at the association between exercise and mortality. Cumulatively, the data indicated that running, whatever one's pace or mileage, dropped a person's risk of premature death by almost 40 percent. This benefit held true even when researchers controlled for smoking, drinking and a history of health problems such as hypertension or obesity.

Perhaps most interesting, the researchers calculated that, hour for hour, running statistically returns more time to people's lives than it consumes. Figuring two hours per week of training, since that was the average reported by runners in the Cooper Institute's study, the researchers estimated that a typical runner would spend less than six months actually running over the course of almost 40 years, but could expect an increase in life expectancy of 3.2 years, for a net gain of about 2.8 years.

So, in concrete terms, an hour of running statistically lengthens life expectancy by seven hours. Of course, these additions "are not infinite," Dr Lee says. The gains are capped at around three extra years, however much people run. The good news is that running does not become counterproductive for longevity, with improvements in life expectancy generally plateaued at about four hours of running per week.

Other kinds of exercise also reliably benefited life expectancy, but not to the same degree as running. Walking, cycling and other activities, even if they require the same exertion as running, typically dropped the risk of premature death by about 12 percent. Running also raises aerobic fitness, which is one of the best-known indicators of an individual's long-term health.

We should be aware that these findings are associational, meaning that they prove that people who run also tend to be people who live longer, but not that running directly causes the increases in longevity. Runners typically also lead healthy lives, Dr. Lee notes and their lifestyles may be playing an outsize role in longevity. One thing is certain, however. And that is that while running may or may not add years to your life, it most certainly will add life to your years!

LOCAL RACE RESULTS

April 22/Escape from the Cape Fun Run (126 finishers)

Overall winners: Male Luis Beltran 20:33; Female Casey Jolicoeur 20:37

Age Group Winners:

Age 5 & under: Female Phoebe Collins 31;18

Age 6: Male Riley Mazur 41:27; Female Keely Sabat 38:11

Age 7: Male Tse Forti 29:13; Female Bailey Benyo 35;52

Age 8: Male Logan Nguyen 26:11; Female Sadie Seabrook 29:31

Age 9: Male Cooper Thompson 28;17; Female Austen Messer 29:33

Age 10: Male Trey Remmers 26;08; Female Eva Barrat 26:47

Age 11: Male Patrick Robillard 23:47; Female -Amelia Parham 36:47-

Age 12: Male Dylan Thompson 25:18; Female - Madison Messeer 44:03

13-15: Male Ben Myers 28:16; Female Mekayla Hammon 36:55

19-34: Male Ryan Martino 20:48; Female Sarah Robillard 33:36

35-49: Male Robert Wevodau 23:41; Female -Kim Kautzman 25:17

50-69: Male David Robillard 22:01; Female Ginny Fisher 27:42

April 22/Woodside Elem. School Spring into Wellness (31 finishers)

Age Group Winners

18 & under: Male Tripp Kennedy 22:16; Female Keeley Gangl 34:40

19 & over: Male Josh Zimmerman 18:24; Female Stephanie Dapko 28;03

April 23/Vet Dogs 5K/10K and 5K with dogs/Kent Island H.S. (185 total finishers)

5K (82 Finishers)

Overall Top Finishers: Male Dylan Hurlock 22:12; Female Lynn Zepp 22:16

Age Group Winners:

10 & under: Male- Cameron Hurlock 31:24

11-15: Male Floyd Butler 24:05; Female Allison Tannahill 39:41

16-19: Male- Scott Coble 22:39; Female Cathy Turner 24:07

20-29: Male Nicholas Bermudez 26:33; Female Meghan Kline 29:54

30-39: Male Daniel Walsh 26:14; Female Laura Buckley 26:34

40-49: Male Scott Crino 24:59; Female -Stacy Swann 32:49

50-59: Male David Brocht 25:54; Female Aprille Abbott 26:14

60-69: Male Patrick MacKin 31:22; Female Valerie Reihl 29:53

70 & over: Male E.T. 38:39

10K (61 finishers)

Overall top finishers: Male -Brandon Nichols 38:19; Female Charity Edelman 47:11

Age group winners;

10 & under: Male- Jordan McCoy 54:25; Female Samantha Wills 54:57

11-15: Male William Nagle 55:09

16-19: Male- Sean Hobbs 42:59; Female Devon Hunter 49:59

20-29: Male MacKenzie Oldfield 50:00; Female Marie Roy 56:08

30-39: Male Joseph Duchesneau 1:03:23; Female Jennifer Daugherty 53:17

40-49: Male Brian Sanborn 53:24; Female Kirsten Sstrohmer 52:24

50-59: Male Ronald Lee 49:31; Female Ruth Gaudreau 50:53

60-69: Male Kenneth Gaudreau 57:09; Female Janice Uthe 55:13

Runners with dogs (42 finishers)

Overall winnners: Male Justin Zepp 19:27; Female -Tara Inverso 23:17

Age Group 0-99: Male Joseph Kruegar 22:50; Female Joann Alvarez 24:47

Continued here:

Running can lead to life extension - CapitalGazette.com

The first-ever retail product advertising the PhytoClean solvent-free extraction process is now on the market, says Mazza Innovation (Delta, BC, Canada), innovator of the PhytoClean method. The product is Life Extensions Mediterranean Whole Food Blend, an extract blend standardized to 25% polyphenols from grapes, olives, pomegranates, black walnuts, pecans, artichokes, and lentils.

PhytoClean is a unique, proprietary, environmentally friendly extraction process using water and no chemical solvents. Mazza describes the process this way: PhytoClean employs an environmentally responsible extraction method that applies heat and pressure to water to lower its polarity, causing it to behave like an organic solvent. The firm says that pressurizing water at moderate temperatures enables the water to better solubilize bioactive compoundsso much so, the company says, that it generally provides better yields and purities than industrial solvents.

Life Extensions label for Mediterranean Whole Food Blend promotes PhytoClean front and Center, advertising the product as a farm-to-capsule blend using PhytoClean technology.

This is a significant milestone for Mazza, as Life Extensions Mediterranean Whole Food Blend is the first product on the market to carry the PhytoClean seal on the label to meet its solvent-free and clean-label standard, said Benjamin Lightburn, president of Mazza Innovation, in a press release.

Mazzas PhytoClean extraction process uses only water, and this ensures that Life Extensions Mediterranean Whole Food Blend has superior ingredients, without unnecessary additives, said Andrew Swick, PhD, senior vice president, product development and scientific affairs, Life Extension, in the same press release.

Also read:

Is Mazzas Solvent-Free Extraction the New Standard?

Jennifer Grebow Editor-in-Chief Nutritional Outlook magazine jennifer.grebow@ubm.com

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PhytoClean Solvent-Free Extraction Process Gets Top Billing in Commercial Launch from Life Extension - Nutritional Outlook

Fort Lauderdale, FL Life Extension has partnered with Insilico Medicine to introduce Ageless Cell, the first supplement in its GEROPROTECT line to promote healthy aging by inhibiting cellular senescence.

Cellular senescence is a natural part of the aging process where cells no longer function optimally, affecting organ function, cellular metabolism, and inflammatory response. The accumulation of these senescent cells contributes to the process of aging. The Ageless Cell supplements inhibit the effects of cellular senescence by acting as geroprotectors, or interventions aimed to increase longevity and impede the onset of age-related diseases by targeting and inhibiting senescence-inducing pathways and inhibiting the development of senescent cells.

The partnership with Insilico Medicine allowed researchers to use deep learning algorithms to comb through hundreds of studies and thousands of data points a process that could have taken decades to identify four key anti-aging nutrients: N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC), myricetin, gamma-tocotrienol, and EGCG. These compounds target pathways that are known to contribute to or protect against the development of senescent cells.

Specifically, NAC upregulates signaling pathways that protect cells against oxidative stress, which promotes cellular senescence. It also reduces pathways that promote inflammation. Myricetin regulates a family of stress-responsive signaling molecules known to regulate aging in many tissues. It also promotes cell differentiation and self-repair. Gamma tocotrienol modulates the mevalonate pathway that controls cholesterol production, cancer promotion, and bone formation. And EGCG regulates the Wnt pathway that determines the fate of developing cells and also prevents sugar-induced damage to tissues, helping to suppress their pro-aging effects.

Clinical aging studies are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to perform at this time. Our collaboration with Insilico Medicine has allowed us to develop geroprotective formulations by using artificial intelligence to study very large data sets, said Andrew G. Swick, Ph.D., senior vice president of product development and scientific affairs for Life Extension.

Scientists found these four nutrients have various complementary and reinforcing properties to influence key anti-aging pathways and combat aging factors by modulating specific biological pathways. By rejuvenating near-senescent cells and encouraging the bodys healthy process for dealing with senescent cells, Ageless Cell turns back the clock at the cellular level, said Michael A. Smith, M.D., senior health scientist for Life Extension. Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., CEO of Insilico Medicine said, Together, these four natural compounds represent the beginning of the future anti-aging cocktails identified using artificial intelligence under expert human supervision.

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Life Extension and Insilico Medicine Use AI to Develop Ageless Cell - WholeFoods Magazine

Good health is a balancing act, but it comes much easier than Silicon Valley miracle drugs. Photo: Hugh Sitton/Stocksy

Over the past few years, there has been an ever-increasing obsession with biohacking and life extension:FDA-approved studies to see if metformin, a drug historically used to treat Type 2 diabetes, can slow aging. A supplement called Basis, which purports to extend life and is backed by multiple Nobel Prizewinning scientists. Transfusing the blood of younger individuals into older ones. Plus a whole manner of other hacks, such as dumping loads of butter into your coffee and wearing headbands that allegedly improve brain function.

Although these approaches are intriguing and arguably worth studying further (at least some of them), too many people seemto have forgotten that there already exists a scientifically proven methodone supported by decades of peer-reviewed researchto extend both the quantity and quality of your life: adopting a few healthy, quotidian habits.

Weve known since the mid-1960s that lifestyle behaviors have an outsize influence on health and longevity, says Michael Joyner, a researcher and expert on health and human performance at the Mayo Clinic. Since then, evidence to support the positive impact of healthy living has mounted, he says, even as more people try to find the elixir of youth. Consider research published in 2011 in the American Journal of Public Health demonstrating that adopting healthy lifestyle behaviorsregular exercise, a wholesome diet, no smokingcan increase lifespan by 11 years. Or a 2016 study published in the British Medical Journal that found a healthy lifestyle reduces ones chance of all-cause mortality by a whopping 61 percent.

The great irony is that the idea behind a lot of these moon-shot fountain of youth drugs, supplements, and gadgets is to replicate the already proven biological and physiological effects of a few key behaviors, says Joyner.

Aubrey de Grey, a pioneer in the anti-aging movement and chief science officer at the SENS Research Foundation, a Silicon Valleybased longevity institute, recently told the New Yorker that by doing things like optimizing his mitochondrial mutation, I can drink as much as I like, and it has no effect. I dont even need to exercise, Im so well optimized. Perhaps. But in the meantime, theres an easier, proven method to life extension.

If exercise could be bottled up and sold as a drug, it would be a billion-dollar business. Decades of studies show that just 30 minutes of moderate to intense daily physical activity lowers your risk for physiological diseases (like heart disease and cancer), as well as psychological ones (like anxiety and Alzheimers). According to Joyner, many of the newfangled longevity elixirs aim to prevent mitochondrial dysfunction, or the breakdown of a cells ability to properly use energy, which is a normal part of aging. But people who exercise can double the number of mitochondria in their skeletal muscle and improve its function throughout the body, he says. This is why exercise has such a potent anti-aging effect.

Avoid stuff that comes wrapped in plastic. Foods that undergo ultra-processing tend to see much of their nutritional bounty stripped from them, says Yoni Freedhoff, an Ottawa-based obesity doctor and author of The Diet Fix. Another reason to avoid processed foods is related to energy density, or calories per gram of food. Generally speaking, ultra-processed foods are much higher in energy density than foods made from fresh, whole ingredients, says Freedhoff, which isnt great for maintaining a healthy weight.

Freedhoffs ideal diet for health and longevity? One that is rich in whole foods that in turn are especially filling. You can keep calories at bay while maximizing nutrition, he says. This means a diet rich in vegetables, whole grains, fish, and leaner meats with regular but not excessive consumption of fruits, nuts, and healthy oils.

A mounting body of evidence is revealing that hanging out with friends and family doesnt just make you feel good in the momentits also good for long-term health. Social connections are associated with reduced levels of the stress hormone cortisol, improved sleep quality, reduced risk of heart disease and stroke, slowed cognitive decline, lessened systemic inflammation, and improved immune function.

In a 2010 study published in PLOS Medicine, researchers from Brigham Young University followed more than 300,000 people for an average of 7.5 years. They found that the mortality risks associated with loneliness exceeded those associated with obesity and physical inactivity and were similar to those associated with smoking.

Americans spend more than $30 billion every year on dietary supplements, yet the vast majority dont work and may even cause harm. A 2016 article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association cited more than 20 years of research and concluded that studies evaluating dietary supplements have yielded predominantly disappointing results about the potential health benefits, whereas evidence of harm has continued to accumulate.

Though supplements are often pristinely packaged in alluring promises, Freedhoff says that its smart to have a policy of just say no. There simply arent any supplements with sufficient evidence behind them to support their use in a person who doesnt have a particular proven deficiency or need.

Regardless of what the biohackers may tell you, you simply cannot nap or intermittently sleep your way to optimal health and functioning. Its only after youve been sleeping for at least an hour that anabolic hormones like testosterone and human growth hormoneboth of which are critical to health and physical functionare released. Whats more, a 2007 study published in the journal Sleep showed that with each additional 90-minute cycle of deep sleep, you receive even more of these hormones. In other words, there are increasing marginal benefits to sleep, and hours seven through ninethe hours most people dont getare actually the most powerful.

Deep sleep is also beneficial to mental health. Researchers from Harvard found that its only during deep sleep when your brain combsthrough, consolidates, and stores all the information you came across during the day. Theres a reason all the bodybuilders and super-intellectual people I know are obsessed with sleep, says Joyner. Sleep works wonders.

In Cheryl Strayeds bestselling memoir, Wild, her mom tells her that the cure for much of what ails her is to put [herself] in the way of beauty. Turns out she was right, at least according to the latest science. Time in nature is an antidote to the ill effects of stress, prevents andin some caseseven helps cure anxiety and depression, and enhances creativity. Though the exact causal mechanisms are not yet known, researchers speculate there is something unique about natureperhaps related to the fact that we evolved to be in itthat puts both our bodies and minds at ease, promoting physical and psychological restoration and subsequent functioning.

Smoking is associated with dozens of types of cancer, as well as heart disease, dementia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. According to the American Cancer Association, smoking causes one out of every five deaths in the United States, killing more people than alcohol, car accidents, HIV, guns, and illegal drugs combined. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, your body literally starts repairing the damage caused by smoking within days of stopping.

Like smoking, excessive alcohol use is associated with a number of chronic diseases, such as liver cirrhosis, throat cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Drinking too much also impairs sleep and daily function. The good news is that if you enjoy alcohol, drinking reasonablyone drink per day for women and up to two for mencarries minimal risk. Moderation is key, says Joyner.

Brad Stulberg (@Bstulberg) writes Outsides Science of Performance column and is a co-author of the new book Peak Performance: Elevate your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success.

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8 Stupid-Simple Tips to Live Longer and Healthier - Outside Magazine

Sailors perform maintenance on an F/A-18E Super Hornet from the Top Hatters of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 14 USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) hangar bay on Jan. 22, 2016. US Navy photo.

Boeing will begin buying material this summer ahead of inducting the first F/A-18E/F Super Hornet into the service life modification program sometime next year, company officials told USNI News.

The Super Hornet life extension program will begin whenever the first jet hits its 6,000 flight hour limit, and the company expects that will happen next year. A Service Life Assessment Program (SLAP) is ongoing to determine what parts of the airplane will have to be replaced, reinforced or otherwise modified to help the jet get 3,000 more hours of life, Boeing F/A-18 and EA-18G Programs Vice President Dan Gillian told USNI News earlier this month.

Were still working through that but we have a lot of that behind us, with a good understanding of what needs to be fixed, he said. The general statement is that, compared to the classic (F/A-18A-D) Hornet, theres not a single center barrel section kind of thing; its more distributed, smaller throughout the airplane. The big challenge that has really hurt the classics that were trying to deal with is the unknowns. So our engineering analysis tells us what we should have to change, the tear-down airplane will validate our engineering was right, and then its dealing with the unknowns.

When the Hornets began their service life extension program in 2012 it quickly became apparent that each airplane had its own unique challenges beyond replacing the center barrel section, and the depots charged with performing the modifications were not equipped to rapidly address these unknowns that were unique to each plane and not discovered until workers started pulling the planes apart.

To ensure the Super Hornet life extension work goes smoother, Gillian said Boeing is taking a very data-driven factory production approach to preparing for the work.

Today (with Hornets), when you open and airplane and find a problem, youre now lead-time away from going to order a part to bring it back, compared to using predictive tools and data analytics to have parts available, so when you find a part that needs to be fixed that you werent expecting, you can deal with it in a shorter turn, he explained.

As part of the SLAP analysis work, engineers gathered as much data as they could about the material condition of the Super Hornets and developed an idea of what the service life modification work would look like, and they are now beginning to open up two learning aircraft in St. Louis to see if their predictions match up to the actual condition of these two planes.

The learning aircraft were designed to help us get a better feel for the unknowns, Gillian said. We do a lot of work with the Super Hornets down at Cecil Field today, that gives us information about corrosion and things like that. And were partnered with the Navy and helping support the fleet squadrons and [Fleet Support Teams], so theres a lot of information that helps us build, using data analytics, models for what we need to buy and put on the shelf to be ready to deal with unknowns, so we can increase the throughput.

Mark Sears, Boeings service life modification program director, said in the same interview that as the SLAP work wraps up, were finishing our analysis for what material we want to lay in in advance of the first aircraft, and were facilitizing out St. Louis both from a facility, a tooling and a people perspective.

Sears added that Boeing will begin buying materials for the first planes life extension work in mid-summer, in anticipation of the first life extension contract coming in early 2018 and the first plane being inducted shortly after that.

Gillian said the first few airplanes would probably take about a year and a half to complete, with Boeing looking to lower that figure as time goes on. He declined to say how long the classic Hornets have taken on average but noted the gap in work for each plane due to having to order parts and wait for them to be manufactured and delivered before the life extension work can continue. Gillian acknowledged that some Super Hornets may be more problematic than others but said he expected a much greater throughput at the depots with the Super Hornets compared to their classic Hornet predecessors.

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Boeing to Begin Buying Super Hornet SLEP Materials This Summer Ahead Of Expected 2018 Induction of First Jet - USNI News

Looks like the US Air Force will have the F-16 Falcon in its arsenal for decades to come. Today it was announced that the Air Force has commissioned Lockheed Martin to extend theoverall flight hours of the F-16 from 8,000 to 12,000. This decision will ensure the the aircraft will remain active for many more years.

Interesting F-16 Video Footage

Following F-16 Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) structural modifications, the U.S. Air Force could safely operate Block 40-52 aircraft to 2048 and beyond, a release said.

Combined with F-16 avionics modernization programs like the F-16V, SLEP modifications demonstrate that the Fighting Falcon remains a highly capable and affordable 4th Generation option for the U.S. Air Force and international F-16 customers, said Susan Ouzts, vice president of Lockheed Martins F-16 program.

The Air Force claims it has the capacity in the F-16C community to recapitalize radar to serve the same function as the F-15 has done and thereby reduce the different systems that we have to sustain and operate, so that makes it more efficient, said Maj. Gen. Scott D. West, director of current operations and the services deputy chief of staff for operations at the Pentagon. Military.com

The Air Force has stated that it intends to replace the F-15C/D aircraft with the F-16 Falcon. What do you think? Is the Falcon capable enough to do the job of F-15?

The F-16 is a great aircraft and has served the US for many years as its premier air-to-air fighter. It is a good decision to keep it around as long as possible with the US having a limited number of F-22s and the F-35 seemingly more suited to the air to ground role.

Featured image of U.S. Air Force Airmen 1st Class Jeremy Andrews and Stephen Long, both crew chiefs with the 20th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, performing preflight checks beneath an F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft during exercise Green Flag West 11-6 at Nellis Air Force Base, NevF-16 by by Senior Airman Brett Clashman, US Air Force

This article is courtesy of Fighter Sweep.

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Air Force authorizes extension of F-16 service life to 2048! | SOFREP - SOFREP (press release) (subscription)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. >> Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are claiming success with the first in a new series of test flights involving an upgraded version of a nuclear bomb that has been part of the U.S. arsenal for decades.

Work on the B61-12 has been ongoing for years, and government officials say the latest tests using mock versions of the bomb will be vital to the refurbishing effort.

An F-16 from Nellis Air Force Base dropped an inert version of the weapon over the Nevada desert last month to test its non-nuclear functions as well as the planes ability to carry the bomb.

With a mere puff of dust, the mock bomb landed in a dry lake bed at the Tonopah Test Range.

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Its great to see things all come together: the weapon design, the test preparation, the aircraft, the range and the people who made it happen, Anna Schauer, director of Sandias Stockpile Resource Center, said in a statement.

Scientists are planning to spend months analyzing the data gathered from the test.

Tracking telescopes, remote cameras and other instruments at the test range recorded information on the reliability, accuracy and performance of the weapon under conditions that were meant to replicate real-world operations.

More test flights are planned over the next three years, and officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration said the first production unit of the B61-12 developed under what is called the Life Extension Program is scheduled to be completed in 2020.

The B61-12 consolidates and replaces four older versions in the nations nuclear arsenal. Its outfitted with a new tail-kit assembly and other hardware.

The weapon is much different than the non-nuclear mother of all bombs used in Afghanistan this week to attack an Islamic State stronghold near the Pakistani border. The Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB, isnt designed to penetrate like the B61-12 but rather create a large blast over the surface and it has to be ferried by a much larger plane given its size.

In Nevada, it took two passes before the pilot could drop the mock B61-12. A herd of wild horses had to be chased away on the first go-around.

With the run commencing, people gathered on balconies at the range despite knowing they would see only dust rising from the target miles away. A video feed showed the test bomb fall through the air after being released by the F-16.

Officials said it left behind a rather neat hole. Crews were able to dig the mock weapon out of the dirt so it could be packed up and returned to Albuquerque for further study.

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US launches qualification tests for upgraded nuke bomb - The Morning Journal

BGR

How Apple might make the same iPhone battery last even longer BGR The patent describes technology that would work behind the scenes to improve battery life on a device. Moreover, Apple says the adaptive battery life extension (ABLE) unit running within the operating system would constantly analyze battery life and ... Rumor: Integrating Touch ID into 'iPhone 8' display remains Apple's 'biggest bottleneck'AppleInsider All Three 2017 iPhones Predicted to Have 3GB of RAM and Lightning Connectors With Faster ChargingMac Rumors Apple is Struggling to Integrate Touch ID Under the iPhone 8's DisplayMac Rumors Forbes -Slashleaks all 189 news articles »

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How Apple might make the same iPhone battery last even longer - BGR

KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- An Air Force F-16 aircraft released an inert B61 nuclear bomb in a test recently, demonstrating the aircraft's capability to deliver the weapon and testing the functioning of the weapon's non-nuclear components, including the arming and fire control system, radar altimeter, spin rocket motors and weapons control computer.

The F-16 from the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis AFB, Nevada, released the weapon over the Nellis Test and Training Range Complex in the first test use of the upgraded B61, known as the B61-12, with the F-16 aircraft.

The test was conducted under a life-extension program for the B61, which is refurbishing both its nuclear and non-nuclear components to extend the bombs service life, while improving its safety, security and reliability. When completed, the new B61-12 version will replace four versions of the B61 bomb currently in the U.S. nuclear stockpile, streamlining production and logistics.

The B61-12 life-extension program is managed by the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center in conjunction with the Department of Energys National Nuclear Security Administration.

The B61-12 gravity bomb ensures the current capability for the air-delivered leg of the U.S. strategic nuclear triad well into the future for both bombers and dual-capable aircraft supporting NATO, said Paul Waugh, AFNWCs Air-Delivered Capabilities director. The B61-12 will be compatible with the B-2A, B-21, F-15E, F-16C/D, F-16 MLU, F-35 and PA-200 aircraft.

The non-nuclear bomb assembly used for the flight test was designed and manufactured by Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory as federally funded research and development centers operating under NNSA. The tail-kit assembly mated to the NNSA front-end was designed by the Boeing Company under an AFNWC contract.

About 200 personnel in AFNWCs Air-Delivered Capabilities Directorate deliver, sustain and support air-delivered nuclear weapon systems. The directorate is headquartered at Kirtland AFB and oversees locations at Eglin AFB, Florida; Joint Base San Antonio, Texas; Ramstein AB, Germany; Robins AFB, Georgia; Tinker AFB, Oklahoma; and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

The center is responsible for synchronizing all aspects of nuclear material management on behalf of Air Force Materiel Command in direct support of Air Force Global Strike Command. Headquartered at Kirtland AFB, the center has about 1,900 personnel at 17 locations worldwide.

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Inert nuclear gravity bomb passes first F-16 flight test - Robins Rev Up