The WSJ has a great editorial (subscription required) about the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize for Medicine. It’s for research over 20 years ago that postulated a link between peptic ulcers and bacteria. When first proposed, the scientific consensus was that ulcers were caused by lifestyle and so the Australian authors Marshall and Warren were ridiculed for their “preposterous” theory. Nevertheless, the scientific method of testing the hypothesis worked, and today, as a result, peptic ulcers are treated easily with antibiotics to the great relief of millions. As the Journal says, “It’s an inspired choice — and a useful reminder that just because there’s a scientific ‘consensus,’ that doesn’t mean it’s true.”