Before he was diagnosed with ALS, Steve Gleason was a professional NFL athlete, playing for The New Orleans Saints for eight years. However, in 2011, doctors informed him that he only had three years to live. So, he used the time he had left wisely. He started Team Gleason both to raise awareness about ALS and help other patients. Now, thirteen years after the fatal diagnosis, the former football player has accepted the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the 2024 ESPYs. Be aware that there is some NSFW language in the clip. @espn Steve Gleason delivered a speech that will touch hearts for years to come #inspirational #legendary #history #espys #als ♬ original sound – ESPN Since Steve Gleason can no longer speak due to ALS, he delivered his acceptance speech through assistive technology. Standing beside him on stage was his son, Rivers, according to The New Orleans Saints website. ESPN shared an incredible video of the former athlete’s speech on social media. As you can see in the footage, audience members were completely captivated by the man’s words. Hear Steve Gleason’s words on courage. “When I learned I was receiving this award, I started reflecting on what that word ‘courage’ means,” Gleason said. “To be courageous, we must first experience loneliness, unworthiness or any of the faces of fear.” He continued, “For me, this honor represents some encouragement and triumph for the families currently living with ALS. All the people living with disability or other illnesses and all of you who experience fear or suffering.” Gleason concluded his speech with a beautiful call to action. Screengrab from TikTok “I don’t think anyone will disagree that we face enormous challenges in the 21st century,” he said. “If we can courageously share our fears and limitations with each other and compassionately collaborate to solve problems, our human potential is boundless. If we can listen, understand, and help alleviate each other’s suffering, then truly, all things are possible.” Now that’s an inspiring message! You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Steve Gleason’s Speech After Winning The Arthur Ashe Award For Courage Will Make You Laugh & Cry appeared first on InspireMore.

A post shared on social media purportedly shows a video of Olympic Equestrian Charlotte Dujardin hitting a horse. Charlotte Dujardin : don’t know if this is the video that’s caused her to withdraw from the Olympics, It’s bad enough. if it’s not this one, it must be reeeeeaaalllyyyy bad! pic.twitter.com/COgBaNZx8D — tyrel wallace (@TyrelWallace) July 23, 2024 […]

'Our butler threw me in his car and we sped through the night to a hospital'

'We extend our deepest sympathies'

The graffiti was written on the Freedom Bell, which is a double-scale replica of the Liberty Bell, according to The Hill

By order of the Peaky Blinders

'Prosecutors are not really leftists'

Four snakes found buried together are shedding new light on our understanding of snake evolution. The specimens – which represent a brand new species – lived in North America around 38 million years ago and could help explain how boas and pythons evolved. The new species has been named Hibernophis breithaupti and the four individual snakes that make up the finding were discovered in the White River Formation in Wyoming, USA. The fossils are extra special since they are nearly complete, and are articulated, meaning the fossils are preserved with the bones still arranged pretty much in the right order. Most other snakes of this period are only known from a few isolated vertebrae, making this find extremely useful for researchers. One of the snakes within the four is twice the size of the others, allowing the researchers to learn more about the different life stages of this ancient species. The team thinks the new species could belong to the boidae, a family which contains boas and pythons that we see today. The evolution of boas is not well understood. These new specimens are thought to be part of a group called the rubber boas, which were small burrowing snakes.  “We learn quite a bit more about boidae evolution in the broad sense,” says Michael Caldwell, a U of A paleontologist who co-led the research in a statement. “It seems that they probably started out as relatively small-bodied snakes, which is interesting.”The cluster of the snakes together suggests they were sheltering together during a colder period in what is known as a hibernaculum. The researchers think that this could be the first evidence of the social behavior of snakes preserved in the fossil record. The name "Hibernophis" comes from the Latin "hibernate", meaning to pass winter, owing to the suspected hibernaculum the snakes were found in. The team thinks that the snakes were probably preserved during a “small flood episode”. The largest snake is presumed to be an adult while the best preserved smaller snake is thought to be a juvenile. A third specimen is hidden under the body of one of the other snake fossils but is between the two in length. "Modern garter snakes are famous for gathering by the thousands to hibernate together in dens and burrows," continued Caldwell in another statement. "They do this to conserve heat through the effect created by the ball of hibernating animals. It's fascinating to see possible evidence of such social behavior or hibernation dating back 34 million years."The paper is published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

In the late 1940s, Indiana residents were gripped by rumors of a "500-pound turtle" allegedly spotted by two men as they were fishing in a lake. Curiously, it wasn’t the first time the giant turtle had been seen, with a previous sighting having been reported at the same lake. So, what on Earth were all these people seeing?The otherworldly turtle was estimated to weigh around 226.8 kilograms (500 pounds) and have a shell the size of a dinner table, according to Smithsonian Magazine. It muscled its way into the news cycle under the catchy nickname “the Beast of Busco”, attracting flocks of visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of the absolute unit.The legend hails from Churubusco, Whitley County, Indiana known to some as Turtle Town. According to the Indiana Magazine of History, the nickname originally stems from ‘Little Turtle,’ the name of a sagamore (chief) of the Miami tribe, but it’s later become associated with the giant turtle sighting at Fulk Lake.               The giant turtle became quite the celebrity in the area, becoming Indiana’s answer to the Loch Ness Monster. The Beast of Busco also went by a second, rather less grand name: Oscar.At IFLScience, we really love science, but we bloody love cryptozoology too. It’s a fantastic field of pseudoscience that allows us to debate the existence of bizarre beasts that are quite literally too good to be true.Among the most famous is the Loch Ness Monster, a slithery beast whose appearance in a few grainy photos over the years has raised eyebrows, and which has now gotten its own paper to explore the “eel hypothesis”. Then there’s good old Bigfoot who, as it turns out, could well be black bears. And who could forget Mokele-Mbembe, the “living dinosaurs” people used to think lived in the Congo, but could well have been a case of mistaken identity with elephants or hippos.With a strong bite and large claws, it's not a creature you want to mess with.Image credit: Noel Powell / Shutterstock.comIn the case of the Beast of Busco, it’s possible that another real animal could be behind the otherworldly sighting. The largest species of freshwater turtle in North America is the alligator snapping turtle, Macrochelys temminckii, and these things are pretty mythically huge as it is.With males weighing around 99.8 kilograms (220 pounds) at 0.66 meters (26 inches) long, they're about half the weight and dinner-table-scale of that reported back in the 40s, but they remain one of the biggest freshwater turtles in the world. Their historic range includes Indiana, though such a sighting would be considered “extremely rare” today.So, was the Beast of Busco just a hefty alligator snapping turtle, or is one of Monarch’s titans lying in wait at the bottom of Fulk Lake? We know which version we prefer.

Archaeologists investigating the "Tomb of Cerberus" in Giugliano, Naples, have unsealed a 2,000-year-old sarcophagus. But while this may sound like the introduction to a Hammer horror story, the researchers actually found a remarkably well-preserved body wrapped in a shroud.  The archaeologists had been examining the tomb with microcameras before they found a passage that led into the sarcophagus, which had remained sealed for thousands of years. The team, led by Dr Simona Formola, found the “supine inhumed” body of someone who, according to a translated statement, was in an “excellent state of conservation”.It is possible that this person’s preservation was assisted by the climatic conditions of the burial chamber, which seems to have mineralized the shroud.In the tomb, the team also found various goods, including ointment jars (known as unguentaria) and body-cleaning tools (strigils) that were used to scrape dirt, sweat, and oils from the body. Given the rich nature and chronology of these finds, along with the care given to the deceased, it is likely the body belongs to the founder of the family to whom the mausoleum was built.The site was uncovered in 2023.Image credit: Italian Ministry of CultureThe Tomb of Cerberus was discovered last year at the necropolis site near Naples, Italy. It received its name because of the ornate and vivid frescoes of the titular three-headed guardian of the Underworld, Cerberus, that were painted on its walls. Since its discovery, researchers have continued to analyze the tomb’s contents, which is how they came across this particular sarcophagus.“The Tomb of Cerberus continues to provide valuable information on the Phlegraean territory near Liternum, expanding knowledge of the past, and offering opportunities for research of a multidisciplinary nature,” Superintendent Mariano Nuzzo explained in the translated statement.“In recent months, in fact, laboratory analyses conducted on samples taken from the inhumations and the depositional beds have returned a considerable amount of data on the treatment of the deceased’s body and the funerary ritual carried out, significantly enriching the panorama of our knowledge.”The excavation work represents a massive interdisciplinary effort, bringing forward the expertise of archaeologists, technicians, anthropologists, chemists, and palaeobotanists, each contributing insights and data that are revealing the secrets of this fascinating site.In particular, the fabric used to shroud the body is being analyzed to determine its structure and the type of yarn is made from, as well as its quality. The hope is that this will reveal more cultural and social information about the person it covers. Pollen analysis of the bottles found in the tomb suggests that the body may have been treated with creams based on Chenopodium (goosefoot) and absinthe, which would have helped preserve it. The team is currently awaiting the results of DNA analysis for more information.The wider necropolis in which the tomb is found is already known to be home to important ancient burials, many of which date back to the Roman Republic and the Roman Imperial Age. As such, as more information emerges from this tomb, the more we will know of both the lives and deaths of its mysterious occupants.