Satl Ab Yakh

Bill Gates did it. So did Ali Khamenei and Oprah Winfrey. Former President George W. Bush said he’d write a check instead, but got a bucket full of ice water dumped on his head anyway.
The Ice Bucket Challenge is lighting up social media, making people laugh and spawning a mini-industry of blooper videos.
“If a million people would donate $100 a year for 30 to 40 years, you might get a breakthrough for ALS,” Serody, who uses NIH funds to help support his research into bone marrow transplants, told NBC News. “These flash-in-the pan things that will go away after a few months will not help ALS in the long run. Researchers need dependable money.” That means year-in-and-year-out support, so researchers can plan their careers and rely on being able to see experiments all the way through. A single $100 donation does little to support that, Serody says.
And Congress has slashed the NIH budget. “Almost no one realizes how dire the research situation is for NIH,” Serody said. Not only has funding not increased to stay up with inflation but it was slashed by 5 percent because of the sequester — remember that little budget maneuver that took effect because Congress couldn’t agree on a final budget plan?
In 2010, NIH spent $59 million on ALS research. It’s fallen by a third since then.