Remember how people were saying the Ice Bucket Challenge was a waste of time? Well, they were WAY wrong.

It's been about two years since the Ice Bucket Challenge hit the internet, and a lot has happened since then. If you don't remember the trend, let me remind you real quick. The Ice Bucket Challenge was started online as a way to raise money for ALS, also known as  Lou Gehrig's disease. It required you to dump a bucket of ice on your head and then upload the video online. You were then asked to tag other people to encourage them to do the challenge, and then make a personal donation online to ALS.

I recall SO MANY PEOPLE being so irritated and annoyed with the trend, saying it was a waste of time, that it wouldn't do any good, etc., but I'm happy to report that those people were just plain WRONG. About 17 million people posted Ice Bucket Challenge videos online, which raised around $220 million dollars. That majority of that money was used for research, and after two years, there has been significant progress. The University of Massachusetts Medical School was able to identify the NEK1 gene as one of the genes responsible for the disease. CNN reports that this discovery, "provides another potential target for therapy development, and brings scientists one step closer to treating the neurological disorder." This is actually the third ALS-related gene discovered since the Ice Bucket Challenge. See? Sometimes annoying internet trends can actually be helpful!

We managed to dig up all of our old Ice Bucket Challenge videos in case you wanted a fun little blast from the past!

[Via CNN]

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