That’s not how either science or NY Times works. First you write the journal article. Then if it’s peer-reviewed, published and seems otherwise legit, your univ

That’s not how either science or NY Times works. First you write the journal article. Then if it’s peer-reviewed, published and seems otherwise legit, your university writes a more layman-friendly press release. If it’s something huge, they’ll probably even arrange a press conference. But they have to be pretty darn certain that it’s legit because retracting something that’s already in the wild is very embarrassing. Then NY Times may make an article of it. Science is based on replicability, and you just don’t go straight to mass media before at least other groups have had a chance to replicate your findings. Definitely not when it’s something this big. Or if you do, your institution will likely be incredibly pissed. I’d say that the more careful they are, the more slowly and by the book they proceed with this, the more, not less, likely it is that this is a real deal.