A closer look
For once, a wildly annoying internet trend actually achieved something monumental. The 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge looked like peak social media narcissism, but the sheer volume of soggy celebrities resulted in an unprecedented $220 million in donations. This massive, sudden influx of cash directly funded Project MinE, a massive global DNA sequencing effort. Because of the viral stunt, scientists were able to successfully identify the NEK1 gene, marking one of the biggest leaps forward in understanding the genetic pathology of ALS in history.
