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The internet's Ice Bucket Challenge funded a medical discovery
Internet sensations can do more than just trigger fond memories or confusion... sometimes, they might just lead to a vital cure. Some of the $100 million-plus in donations from the Ice Bucket Challenge (the viral video-fueled awareness campaign for ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease) fully funded Project MinE, a medical research effort that just identified a gene linked with some ALS cases. Yes, that clip you shared with your Facebook friends may have given scientists the cash they needed to finish their work -- in this case, sequencing the genomes of 15,000 people with ALS to help pinpoint relevant genes.
