Ice bucket challenge “breakthrough”? Experts pour cold water on superficial reporting

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• Format Texts
• Language/s English
• Target Audience Self-directed learning
• Difficulty Introductory

Key Concepts addressed

• 1-3a Beware of conflicting interests
• 3-2b Are you very different from the people studied?

Details

The Ice Bucket Challenge — those videos of friends, family members, and celebrities dumping ice water on themselves to promote awareness and funding of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research — was a veritable media sensation in 2014.

Now comes the heartwarming follow-up: According to an ALS Association news release, those donation-inducing videos helped fund a discovery that many news outlets are calling a “breakthrough”

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