> It seems as though they would publish a paper to be peer-reviewed or something first

They did. The link mentions that it is under embargo until the time of the conference. It says "Science Journal" so I'm guessing that is an odd way of referring to the journal Science.

The italics are a bit off to me. Maybe they meant "Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 11 a.m. PST On Dec. 2"

"Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 11 a.m. PST On Dec. 2"

The past track record though on these things seems to indicate though that these press conferences fall more into the very interesting discovery for scientists and those who follow it, rather than ground breaking discovery that hits the front pages in general publications.

Although saying that if something truly ground breaking were discovered it wouldn't surprise me if it were announced in the same way.