Genetic research seems to have settled once-and-for-all where syphilis originated.

That syphilis originated in the Americas and was transported to Europe by early Spanish explorers was conventional wisdom at least as far back as the mid-80s, when I learned about it in college. Of course, as with any social science, there's nothing so conventional that some powerful anthropologist can't challenge, so there was always this grinding background of "did not / did too / did not / did too" in the various journals of the time.

Now that an independent line of research has confirmed the prediction, you'd think all these old coots would sit down and shut up about it. No way Jose! The only reliable way to get an entrenched academic to change their opinion is to let the Grim Reaper escort them off the stage. Otherwise there's nothing quite as pleasing to them as arguing with the tide (and, of course, ruining the occasional grad student's career in the process).

Via Instapundit.