This wasn't characterized as a discovery, either by the reporter or the scientists involved. But it is really interesting. Either you didn't RTFA or I'm not sure what you're complaining about.
I agree, few articles that I have read about this (including BBC) clearly mention this as speculation and a possibility. However probably there are people who still take this as a fact after reading the article. In my mind media has been surprisingly careful with this not to claim this as a new discovery.